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TRANSPORT for LONDON has now finished its consultation on CYCLING SUPERHIGHWAY 9 along the line of King Street and Hammersmith Road. It extends towards Hounslow. In the LBHF section it is planned to be a 3m wide 2-way segregated cycle track.

On 13 February the Management Committee of hfcyclists AGREED the following .

>>>

Position Statement of support for CS9

hfyclists support the construction of the CS9 with improvement to routing and detail and would applaud returning to the original concept of CS9 from Hyde Park in the East to Heathrow Airport in the West.

We look forward to assisting LBHF and Transport for London in the detailed design and in the delivery of the CS9 scheme protected from motor traffic and in accordance with the London Cycling Design Standards.

hfcyclists believe that a safe protected cycleway for CS9 is essential for the health of West London and its population and we look forward to a cycleway suitable for all users including children, families, shoppers using local shops and cafes, senior citizens and those with impaired mobility, a cycleway for all connecting the town centres of Hammersmith with Kensington and Chiswick, Brentford, and Hounslow and suitable for a variety of cycles including cargo bikes and family carriers. A direct safe link between our town centres, our shopping centres, our work places and Central London.

We believe that CS9 will encourage people away from motor vehicles, improve physical health and encourage healthy families in Hammersmith and Fulham. CS9 is the key first step towards providing a safe cycle network in our borough.

We look forward to the construction of CS9 and to riding safely along its route.

<<<

The official LCC position is to support CS9 www.lcc.org.uk

Local groups, ie including us, are expected to follow LCC policy. However everyone in the group is free to have their own personal views and to express them if they do not claim them to be the view of the group.

On Monday 29 January at 7pm there was a PAC meeting at Hammersmith Town Hall where CS9 was on the Agenda.

John Griffiths sent the PAC committee a file for the meeting which looks carefully at the traffic modelling for the gyratory and CS9 and looks at some of the implications of the TfL files. Note this is the personal view of John and does not represent the view of hfcyclists or the LCC and John has never claimed that it does..

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Plans used in Consultation still at:

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/roads/cs9/?cid=cs9

However

LBHF wants to ensure everyone who might be affected can have their say, so will continue to accept feedback until January next year.

Must bring benefits

“Cycling brings many benefits to the borough, but any suggested new route should serve the communities it passes through,” said Cllr Wesley Harcourt, H&F Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Residents’ Services.

“Local people have told us they want better and safer routes for cyclists, but residents also want to feel safe using the route as a casual rider, or crossing it as a pedestrian.

“This TfL proposal is a major piece of infrastructure, spanning the borough, so we’ve got to be sure this is absolutely the right scheme for all our residents and businesses.

“We want to hear as many people’s views as possible and that’s why we have extended our consultation time.”

Any additional responses I receive will be presented to the PAC meeting at the end of January alongside the TfL response report and then the committee response will help form my recommendation to the Cabinet member and then Cabinet in March 2018.

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What is below is largely historic now. It is our response to the first consultation.

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FULLER RESPONSE TO HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY CONSULTATION FROM HFCYCLISTS – LOCAL GROUP OF LCC IN HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM – FROM JOHN GRIFFITHS – ACTING CHAIR.

It is very pleasing to see that something is being planned here. It is disappointing that this Better Junction Review does not take in all of the gyratory.

In a response to a question put by Darren Johnson AM on our behalf, Tfl have stated in an email on 9 February 2016

“While there are existing cycle demands on routes in to and out of the gyratory which would not link directly to the scheme, we have focussed our proposals around the cycle route that we believe will benefit the largest number of cyclists while not adversely affecting traffic flow.”

It is disappointing that TfL are excluding any options that may adversely affect traffic flow, especially when one is hoping for modal shift away from private car use and one is hoping to reduce air pollution.

2] DESIGN PARAMETERS – PREDICTED FLOW RATES

We have asked TfL and LBHF for the flow rates of cyclists for which this project has been designed. So far we have not been told. If the design does not cope with the number of cyclists using it, it may result in cyclists blocking pedestrian crossings or being left in the roadway. If the stepped track is not sufficiently wide to cope with the flow, then cyclists are more likely to drop off the edge.

If the peak flow rate is more than 200 / hr, then a 1.5m track is not sufficient. We do not know what flow rates this facility is being designed for, and it would be helpful to have these figures.

LCDS 4.4 Widths for cycling on carriageway

Figure 4.11 Summary of guidance on widths on carriageway

Recommended minima

Cycle tracks

including segregated

lanes (5)

one-way two-way

very low / low flow 1.5 metres 2.2 metres

medium flow 2.5 metres + 2.0 metres

high / very high flow 3.0 metres 4.0 metres +

(5) Flow categories are provided in figure 4.12 below. Edge conditions need to be taken into account with an extra 0.5 metres provided next to any object more than 50mm high. More width is also often needed around bends.

Figure 4.12a Peak hour flow categories for cyclists Figure

Peak hour

1-way lane/track 2-way track

Very low <100 <100

Low 100-200 100-300

Medium 200-800 300-1,000

High 800-1,200 1,000-1,500

Very high 1,200+ 1,500+

3] ON THE GYRATORY

We have been informed by LBHF that the funding package behind this consultation only refers to parts of the gyratory and perhaps Blacks Road and/or Beadon Road. We will consider the consultation in two parts, those areas critical to the funding, and elsewhere. Starting by going clockwise around the gyratory

4] THE MANDATORY CYCLE LANE

The mandatory cycle lane on Queen Caroline Street would only be used by cyclists coming from Hammersmith Bridge Road. Unless a cycle lane is going to be installed in the future on HBR there would appear to be no point in this track. Cyclists competent to handle HBR would be able to use the gyratory to get to Hammersmith Road. Cyclists on that lane look vulnerable to vehicles turning left into Blacks rd.

5] BLACKS ROAD

In Blacks Road there is only a westbound cycle lane at the entrance to it. Yet more cyclists use Blacks Rd going east.

A Sky-High Count on Us survey carried out on 4 July 2013 [supplied to us by TfL at the request of Darren Johnson AM] shows between 7am and 10am 289 east bound cyclists and only 9 west bound cyclists on Blacks rd. Between 3pm and 7pm it was 53 east bound, 49 west bound.

There should be cycle lanes for cyclists entering and leaving Blacks Road at the gyratory. There should not be a crossover for these cyclists. It is confused by this mystery of cyclists on the mandatory lane on the gyratory.

6] THE CORNER OF KING STREET

On the final curve as cyclists on King Street approach the gyratory they have vehicles heading straight for them before the vehicles veer off into King Street. This must be a very threatening situation. Buses and some other vehicles have a front overhang of over 2m, and a turning vehicle could easily extend 1m over any kerb protection. Pedestrians have a very high kerb barrier to protect them at this spot.

The left turn out of King Street appears to be a very sharp turn of about 120 degrees. The external radius appears to be about 3m. The track appears to 1.5m wide. There is also an island to be contended with when you are part way around the turn.

LCDS 4.5.8

At intersections where cyclists may not need to stop, a minimum external radius of 4 metres should be applied.

7] THE MAIN CROSSING

As the cyclists pass the crossing on the gyratory there may be pedestrians waiting to cross very close to the cycle track. This would restrict the effective width of the track.

8] SHEPHERDS BUSH ROAD

If the crossing of the northbound leg of Shepherds bush road is pushbutton controlled, then it should have automatic detectors for the presence of waiting or approaching cyclists.

Cyclists wishing to go North on Shepherds Bush rd should have a bypass of the pedestrian crossing.

We have been told that there should be a green wave for cyclists across the top of the gyratory, or that they should only be stopped a few times. We have also been told that the reason for the removal of the crossing across Hammersmith road is that the area between the northbound and southbound legs of Shepherds Bush Road is required as a reservoir for waiting cyclists. TfL should make a clear case for the removal of this useful crossing; otherwise it should not be done.

There should be facilities to access to the Superhighway westbound for southbound cyclists on Shepherds Bush rd.

9] THE BUTTERWICK ISLAND

Concerning the island at the north end of Butterwick, we have been told that LBHF may have plans to have a 2-way cycle track on the south side of Hammersmith road going east.

Whatever the configuration of cycle tracks, there should be 2-way access for cyclists on this island:

to the north,

to the central Hammersmith Broadway transport interchange and

to the south and east allowing to travel south towards the Talgarth rd crossing.

10] ON BEADON ROAD

The route Studland Road, Glenthorne Road and Beadon Road should be made as cyclist friendly as possible to take pressure off the superhighway. I completely support the idea of a wide bus lane in Beadon Road. It should allow cyclists to pass buses easily.

11] STEPPED TRACKS

4.2.5 Stepped cycle tracks

Stepped cycle tracks are vertically separated from the footway and main carriageway in order to provide greater protection, safety and comfort than a cycle lane. They offer less separation and less protection than kerb-segregated lanes/tracks, but they may be regarded as a more subtle intervention and can offer more flexible access to the kerbside. The level change between footway and cycleway can also help legibility, with clarity about the function of different spaces for cycling and walking.

Stepped tracks are suitable for one-way with flow or contraflow provision but should not normally be used for two-way cycling. There are few examples in the UK of this type of infrastructure, so there is little established guidance. The model described here is based on Copenhagen’s typical cycling provision, and has been successfully applied to several locations in Brighton and Hove (see photo, right).

Stepped tracks have rarely been used in London. A good example of stepped tracks in London is in the northern section of Pancras Road, where there are 2m wide stepped tracks on either side of the road. Here Pancras Road is straight and has little place function or reason for cyclists or pedestrians to behave erratically. Image courtesy Camden Cyclists.

Another example of a stepped track in London is on Kennington Park rd close to the Oval. This image is taken from Google street view. Although this road is busier there is little kerbside activity, and there is a park on the other side of the road.

12] THE STEPPED TRACK ON KING STREET

Unfortunately the consultation plan does not have dimensions marked on it and we have so far not been given access to any plan that has marked dimensions. It would be good if one could be supplied to us. However the stepped track on King street would appear to be about 1.5m wide with a marked edge of about 0.25m. The step down from the pavement is likely to be 50mm and the step down to the roadway is likely to be 75mm.

It is clear that a lot of design work has gone into fitting a route into the restricted space available. However the safety of cyclists does not appear to have been paramount. King Street is very busy with a high pedestrian density and activity and with many people crossing the street in an uncontrolled manner. The stepped track is contraflow, so pedestrians crossing the road will mainly be looking at the traffic looking for a gap and not noticing a cyclist coming from the other direction.

Cyclists themselves may behave erratically, stopping suddenly at a destination, or moving to avoid an obstacle or broken glass, causing those behind to move out to overtake.

Cargo bikes and bikes with boxes or trailers carrying children may be nearly 1m wide. That does not leave much room for a bike to overtake. Some cyclists may be going very fast. Some may be going very slow, with young children in tow or carrying shopping on the handlebars. At slow speeds particularly cyclists may wobble. In 1957 Lord Denning determined that motorists must ‘allow a cyclist their wobble’.

If a cyclist goes over the stepped edge it may result in a fall into the path of oncoming traffic. This route is meant to encourage beginners to cycle. Very careful consideration should be given to the level of protection given to cyclists.

LCDS 4.1.4 Selecting the right provision

Discusses the functional and aesthetic characteristics of streets as places.

LCDS 3.2.4

Figure 3.5 Cyclists’ effective width: key considerations

Recommended minimum clearance between the furthest extremity of a moving motor vehicle and the outside of the dynamic envelope of a cyclist at 20mph or less * 1.0m

Recommended minimum safe clearance at 30mph * 1.5m

*Greater clearances are recommended for larger vehicles

13] NEAR BRIDGE AVENUE

Shortly after Bridge Avenue the cycle track appears to have an area of footway flush with it to the right of the track. The track goes into a curve opposite a loading bay and the flush area to the right of the track disappears. Vehicles passing lorries in the loading bay will be right over on the right hand side of the road, with wing mirrors over the track. Because of the curve a cyclist may not be able to gauge how close to the kerb an approaching vehicle will be. It is also an area where people are likely to cross the road informally.

14] TAPER OF DOOM

Just before the loading bay vehicles find that the roadway funnels right down to a narrow width. A vehicle following the left hand kerb will get a shock, as may a cyclist on the stepped track. Anyone following the centre line of the taper will also end up on the stepped track.

15] BY THE BUS STOPS

By the bus stop in King Street the carriageway is now about 0.8m narrower than before. The outside lane width beside the bus stop appears to 2.8 to 3.0m wide. Vehicles passing the bus stops will be right over on the right hand side of the road to give clearance to buses. Wing mirrors are likely to clip cyclists, if not worse. This is not the place to experiment stepped tracks of which there is no experience in places with a high place function.

Also losing nearly 1m of footway width at the busy bus stops is not very satisfactory for pedestrians.

16] A SAFE DESIGN FOR CYCLISTS

A practical and safe design for cyclists must be presented for the area to the west of the gyratory. This is both for east and west bound cyclists. At the moment there is no route indicated for west bound cyclists, and that for east bound cyclists is not satisfactory.

If westbound cyclists are to be taken down to the A4 footway and then up Bridge Avenue to King street, the space on the A4 footway is very limited.

If they are to be taken up Angel Walk there is a loading bay just to the east in King street. The Hammersmith Ram could load from Blacks Road.

I hope a satisfactory design will emerge.

John Griffiths MA [Cantab] MSc UCLA

Acting Chair hfcyclists, local group of the London Cycling Campaign in H&F

122c Edith rd, West Kensington, W14 9AP

020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748

truefeelings@gmail.com

23 February 2016.

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Do they give us confidence in what they are doing?

TfL are working with LBHF to design improvements for cyclists at Hammersmith Gyratory. This is part of the BETTER JUNCTIONS REVIEW. From the Better Junctions Review website we have

>>> We are working with Hammersmith and Fulham council to make Hammersmith gyratory safer and more accessible for cyclists. Our proposals, when ready, will provide major improvements for cyclists, fit in to the borough’s wider cycling strategy and complement the long-term vision for Hammersmith. Consultation is expected to take place in late 2015, with construction starting in 2016. For further information on this scheme please contact Graham Nash by email CustomerServicesRoads@tfl.gov.uk <<<

There are some problems with this. As yet the new Cycling Strategy has not been published.. A committee to form a long term vision for Hammersmith has not yet been set up. The consultation may not be ready by the end of this year.

It would give confidence if TfL released the cyclist counts it is using for its planning work on the gyratory. It is possible that TfL have absolutely no idea of present cyclist use. To give an idea of the ratios travelling in different directions John and Lynn recently counted cyclists for 30 minutes towards the end of the evening peak.

Present cycle use [mainly high speed commuting] is not necessarily the same as that of the population of future cyclists that one should be planning for.

There are indications that the review may concentrate on an east to west route linking Hammersmith Rd to King St. Such a route would be very welcome. This would be to fit in with a born-again Cycle Superhighway 9. CS9 appeared to have died after problems getting a route through RBKC.

However we would like to see the gyratory made safe for cyclists coming from all directions.

It would be good if TfL and LBHF shared more of their thinking before we are offered a consultation. Once plans are drawn up we have found that there is a great reluctance to make any significant changes.

LBHF are conducting a consultation on a 20mph speed limit in the Borough. The main question is will it extend to most main roads or not, The cluster map below shows the location of cyclist fatalities and seriously injured from 2005 until recently.

When we combine the Pedestrian and Cyclist casualties the results show a similar cluster around main roads, where people are going about there business. The cluster map below shows casualties from 2005 to 2014 from the police’s STATS19 data

The LBHF consultation is live until 31 July 2015. Whether you are a pedestrian or cyclist or motorist we urge you to make all main roads 20mph to produce a civilised Borough. Each household should receive a printed version of the questionnaire in the post.

But to make sure further Information and an online version of the questionnaire can be found here:

Brian Smith is the Chair of the Hounslow group. John met him a few days ago to discuss CS9 and Brian asked if he could come and John said yes. Mike Robinson is an engineer from the Hounslow group, who leads the CS9 campaign there and wrote the “fundamentally flawed” email to John.

POLICE OFFICERS Anthony Conteh and Ben Tanner from the local Safer Neighbourhood Team had been invited along. John had explained to them that the agenda was quite challenging tonight and we would not be able to give them much time. They have agreed to come along next month.

JOHN PRESENTED A DOCUMENT concerning possible congestion to the PAC meeting on 29 January.

http://www.truefeelings.com/CS9/PossibleCS9CongestionVer2.pdf

John was asking for proper and understandable information from TfL on possible congestion with CS9. This document has been described as fundamentally flawed by Mike Robinson and has caused upset among people at LCC.

John attempted to go through the document showing the simple arithmetic processes of converting delay times crossing the gyratory, to ratio of times to cross the gyratory and hence to the ratio of present to future queuing times before the gyratory. Mike made this very difficult by interrupting frequently talking about traffic modelling matters, which are not relevant to this arithmetic process.

Casey wondered why we were talking about matters not related to cycling. John responded that

a] when a cyclist is injured, on the CS9 or elsewhere, that cyclist would appreciate a rapid response.

b] he wanted the TfL consultation, and the CS9 advocacy of which he has been part, to be fair, and to provide a fair picture of what it will be like for the community of which he is part.

However John failed to get the group to support the validity of his document.

John claims full personal ownership of this document and has never claimed it to be an hfcyclists document. He hosted it for a day or so on the hfcyclists website before moving it to another place. He apologises for that and any confusion it might have caused.

SOME TRAFFIC MODELLING IDEAS

In his document John quotes from TfL, which refers only to the delay crossing the gyratory, not to any queuing time

The traffic modelling analysis looks at journey times at the busiest hour in

the morning and evening peaks. The most notable increases in journey

times will be for traffic approaching Hammersmith gyratory from Fulham

Palace Road in the evening peak, which may experience an average

journey time increase of up to a minute and a half.

David Morton is concerned about the present levels of congestion on Fulham Palace Rd, with queues regularly going way back well beyond the hospital, and asked if we could measure them. John suggested using Waze, a free app / program used by drivers to avoid congestion. GPS data from the driver’s mobile is used to give live travel times. By clicking on a highlighted section of road you can find the time it takes to drive down that stretch. [And LBHF surely has access to historic traffic data]

David Morton was also asking if easier ways could be used to predict congestion. For example did the Council use data from the recent water main problems to see how the traffic responded? [Mike said it largely just melted away after the first day or two of chaos].

Henrietta had forwarded an email to John just before the meeting saying

>>>FYI I have asked Caroline Pidgeon to ask TFL what the closure of King st and Uxbridge road have had on traffic in the area. I can’t guarantee that TFL will have or will do the research.<<<

[Susannah Woodgate has frequently been asking the question on the email group of temporary trials rather than commitment to permanent solutions.]

JOHN’S ADVOCACY AT THE GYRATORY

After a lot of pressure from John TfL finally agreed to a cycle signal to warn cyclists on CS9 before they plunged across Beadon Rd, going north. However there is nowhere for them to stop except for blocking the main crossing to the central Broadway Island. He has suggested alterations to the layout that would give a space before the signals.

He has questioned how the cycle signals would work for slower cyclists, and brought up the problem of “wrongful” pedestrians blocking a cyclist’s way forward to a safe refuge.

John has asked to meet with the LBHF project manager, Solomon Castillo, to discuss the plans at the gyratory but to no avail.

This is one of many quotes from a getwestlondon page after a fatal accident on the crossing involving a bus and a pedestrian.

>>>Trevor Adkins said: “I cross there many times in a week so many people running across when the lights are red.” <<<

Only problem after CS9 is the landing zone on the other side will now be the CS9 in GO phase.

DISCUSSION AND GROUP POSITION ON CS9

After a lot of discussion we AGREED on the following statement, adapting a text offered by Brian Smith.

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Position Statement of support for CS9

hfyclists support the construction of the CS9 with improvement to routing and detail and would applaud returning to the original concept of CS9 from Hyde Park in the East to Heathrow Airport in the West.

We look forward to assisting LBHF and Transport for London in the detailed design and in the delivery of the CS9 scheme protected from motor traffic and in accordance with the London Cycling Design Standards.

hfcyclists believe that a safe protected cycleway for CS9 is essential for the health of West London and its population and we look forward to a cycleway suitable for all users including children, families, shoppers using local shops and cafes, senior citizens and those with impaired mobility, a cycleway for all connecting the town centres of Hammersmith with Kensington and Chiswick, Brentford, and Hounslow and suitable for a variety of cycles including cargo bikes and family carriers. A direct safe link between our town centres, our shopping centres, our work places and Central London.

We believe that CS9 will encourage people away from motor vehicles, improve physical health and encourage healthy families in Hammersmith and Fulham. CS9 is the key first step towards providing a safe cycle network in our borough.

We look forward to the construction of CS9 and to riding safely along its route.

I’m awaiting the minutes from the recent PAC which will identify what actions I need to carry out.

I’m still advised by TfL that they are continuing to analyse the consultation responses and don’t expect to be in a position to release any outcome results until later in February.

Thank all your members who have taken the time to respond to the extended council consultation. This opportunity is still open, and where appropriate we will continue to liaise with TfL on any issues.

On-Street secure cycle parking plans.

The council have announced that we will be installing 13 Bikehanger units across the Borough with a future roll out programme to meet the increasing demand. At the moment we need another 15-20 units so I am actively seeking funding for these units.

We will publish a map showing the locations in the next week or so.

The Mayor of London announced initial work on six new routes across London, of which the final one, Wembley to Willesden Junction, actually will extend to Putney Bridge. Thus becoming a future North -South route in the borough including possibly Wood Lane, Shepherds Bush Road, and Fulham Palace Road.

We are expecting Quietway 2 (around Wormwood Scrubs) to be completed by the end of the month so we will be working with TfL on a launch event where will invite members of H&F Cyclists to join us.

Have a good meeting.

Best Regards

Richard

Richard Duffill

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We were very surprised and pleased to hear about the north – south route through the Borough. Though not quite sure how it will fit down Fulham Palace Rd.

DISCUSSION OF THE FUTURE of the John’s role in hfcyclists, and talking freely about CS9.

David Morton was not pleased with Simon’s email as sent to Casey. He pointed out that he did not consider John’s document a terrible crime, mainly it was asking for information. He understood the LCC’s whips position, but thought the letter was over the top.

John had offered his resignation as Chair to allow him to speak more freely of his concerns, but this was met with a vote of confidence in him and a demand that he stays.

EXPENSES

John had expenses of £30 for refreshments.

DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday 13 March 7.15pm for 7.30pm at the home of Ken McCosh, 12 Stanwick rd, W14 8UH

We are honoured that he came to our meeting. He is the Labour Councillor for the Avonmore and Brook Green ward and pro-CS9. Cllr Caroline Ffiske who is co-ordinating the anti-CS9 campaign is also from this ward.

CYCLE SUPERHIGHWAY 9

Richard Duffill , Cycling Officer of LBHF has sent the following update on CS9

>>>You are aware of the statement from the London Borough of Hounslow regarding their decision to delay making any announcement until the summer.

I’m advised by TfL that they are continuing to analyse the consultation responses and don’t expect to be in a position to release any outcome results until February. This being the case I am therefore unable to advise our own councillors until then for them to make any decision.

In the meantime, we remain committed to receiving comments on the route from residents and businesses and where appropriate we will request information from TfL.

PAC meeting on the 29th January.

The Agenda item on CS9 remains. The meeting will enable any resident to raise any opinions on the proposed CS9 Route. I would encourage all your members to attend the meeting which starts at 7.00pm. <<<

David Morton has set up the working group looking at the Hammersmith Rd section of CS9. They have met with Richard Duffill and Joy Wigg from TfL. They have already achieved removing the taxi rank from Avonmore Rd. They too are waiting for news from TfL before progressing further.

David considers that one of the main negative aspects of CS9 is the name – Cycle Superhighway 9. This give the impression of high speed cyclists rather than the impression of it being used by local people going about their business, which is what LBHF would like to see.

However in the consultation TfL gives the improvement in journey time along the 5.6 miles for cyclists as changing from 30-35 minutes to 20-25 minutes. Completing the journey in 20 minutes gives an average speed of 17.6mph. Allowing for stops at lights and signalised crossings this means that TfL are expecting some cyclists to be going at a fair lick.

David reported that Cllr Caroline Ffiske plans to bring a motion to the full LBHF Council meeting on Wednesday 24 January a motion against CS9. David said that this was bound to fail, as the Conservatives are in the minority. John is not so sure that the Administration want to go into the 3rd May election as being the party wanting to support something that has widespread local opposition.

So far the Leader Stephen Cowan has appeared very responsive to ward views, have vetoed a planned bus lane in Beadon Rd to accommodate the wishes to residents in Hammersmith Grove. David says that Labour has no worries at all in this election.

Now LB Hounslow have postponed a decision until after the May elections, it is likely that LBHF will follow suit. It would then become an election issue.

ON-STREET SECURE CYCLE PARKING.

Richard Duffill also sent this

>>>In the next week or so, the council will announce the initial locations for its on-street secure cycle parking units. We continue to receive requests from residents which we are plotting on a map of the borough which is enabling us to plan further units in the future.<<<

We welcome this.

OLYMPIA PLANNING APPLICATION

David also filled us in on the plans for Olympia. It has been bought by YOO, and financed by Deutsche Bank. The 20 year plan is to make it a major leisure venue. Olympia way will be pedestrian only [bikes?] and the vehicle access for exhibitions etc will be on Blythe Rd near Gate G, which is on the corner of the site near North End Rd. The number of visiters may rise from 4M a year to 8M a year. A planning application with Transport Assessment is expected in a few months.

There are other major building works in the area, 66 Hammersmith Rd, and Harrods. David has set up a working group to discuss lorry movements etc. We should co-ordinate with him and LBHF on cycle safety as far as the lorries are concerned. [STOP PRESS. People can look at the proposals for the 66 building at LBHF planning, and make comments until 31 January. The planning application number is 2017/04752/FUL

PLANS FOR HAMMERSMITH

At some point there is meant to be a Supplementary Planning Document for Hammersmith. This is the goal a group including the Architects Grimshaw and Partners. Not much has been heard about that recently.

TfL would like to rebuild the bus station, but to rebuild it they believed it required a complex with expensive flats to finance it. The leader is against expensive flats when affordable / social housing is needed. David said there was no longer a market for expensive flats, so it looks like the Broadway will not be developed for a while.

Richard Duffill has reported that the amount of traffic in Hammersmith is predicted to increase, according to TfL. And that is before Olympia and Heathrow are taken into account.

Perhaps Road Pricing is needed to force less traffic. That involves a vehicle having a GPS device and a meter that charges more for driving in certain zones at peak times. Should CS9 cause congestion, that will also lead to less traffic in the long term.

OUR SURVEY – CYCLISTS’ VIEWS ON CS9

Of the 39 responses so far 34 said they supported CS9, with no one saying NO or DON’T KNOW. 23 respondents were members of the LCC. 14 said that would send an email to LBHF supporting CS9.

John was surprised that 25 [71%] said that they had driven a car in the last month.

Turnham Green Terrace will be closed to traffic on Sunday 28 January.12.30 – 3pm for a festival to mark the opening of art work on the Railway arches by the Station. We considered organising a ride to it, but there was not much enthusiasm for it. So if people want to make their own way there we will see you. More about it nearer the time.

MARKET STALL

There was little enthusiasm for having a stall at the North End Rd Spring Festival in March. It is more effective to meet cyclists along the river, and we can chose a time when the weather is clement.

There will be a consultation event at Hammersmith Town Hall on Tuesday 20 February at 12 pm to 8pm.

POLICE CONTACTS

David has since sent me contact details of the Ward Police Officers. John has arranged that they will come to our next meeting.

NEXTDOOR

David also recommended https://nextdoor.co.uk/

MAY ELECTION

There was little enthusiasm to become involved with it as a group. John will go to the new LCC headquarters in Wapping on Thursday for a meeting on CS9 and the election, and also a meeting of local group representatives.

Vin had written to John suggesting having rides around the Borough to look at problem areas and use this to get election pledges from candidates. Vin said he would be happy to help organise this. Unfortunately John forgot to mention this at the meeting, but more on this after the LCC meeting.

MEETING TIMES

With dark nights Victoria was hoping that we would switch the meeting time to daytime at the weekend. But with no notice of her wish we did not agree to that.

EXPENSES

John for SurveyMonkey, one month £35

Ken for Refreshments, £30

DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday 13 February, 7.30pm at the home of John Griffiths, 122c Edith Road, W14 9AP [corner of North End Road]

In conjunction with Hammersmith London Bid, we have been successful in our bid for funding for Round two of the Mayors Air Quality Fund. Our Bid was centred around under the Flyover, and includes the provision of a new secure cycling Hub in that location. The funding will also include design of new cycle lanes on Fulham Palace Road and also East- West. I will show you the proposal tomorrow.

CS9. Nothing new to advise. We’re expecting news from TFL next week.

We’ll also be announcing locations for our on-street secure cycle parking units in the next week with implementation in February.

Best Regards

Richard

We were all thankful for that news. The cycling hub is likely to be a closed space with a number pad for admission. The bikehangars would hold 6 bikes and in effect would remove one car space.

HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY and CS9

On CS9 we had long discussions on the future of congestion and pollution with and without CS9. Ranging from the T charge on all vehicles over 8 years old entering London, and the future of Heathrow.

The TfL consultation is over, but LBHF is still taking comments. There are now concerns about anti-CS9 petitions originating from Conservative Councillors. Henrietta brought up the point that the CS9 goes E-W and in our narrow borough it may not be personally useful to many residents.

We decided we would organise a survey on SurveyMonkey that would lead people to send an email to LBHF in support of CS9. Henrietta said that she would be prepared to promote it as a facebook ad. Casey was keen that the link should lead to our facebook page where the link to the survey would be prominent. John will device the short simple survey and send to a few of our members for comments.

Most resident associations appear to be against CS9. We should look at promoting to Council estates and schools, where people may be more in favour of CS9.

We will also encourage people to come to the PAC meeting in the evening on Monday 29 January next year. However due to a large agenda and the number of people expected, things may change.

MAKING CONTACT WITH THE POLICE

John had invited a police contact to come to our meeting. She had passed it onto our local Neighbourhood team, but we have not heard from them

BIKE MUTILATION

John showed a photo of a woman’s bike where the rear inner tube had been removed from inside the tyre and wrapped around the hub. The bike had been parked at the east end of Gunterstone Rd, and one day recently this had happened to it. John had previously seen a woman half carrying, half wheeling a bike with a similar mutilation. There must be a very disturbed individual out there.

RIDES AND EVENTS

John was sorry he cancelled Sundays ride because of bad weather. We may organise pop-up rides at short notice if the weather looks good.

I’m pleased to advise that the last pieces of re-surfacing have been agreed and changes to the zebra crossing made to accommodate the pupils of the Kensington Aldridge Academy now located on the Scrubs car Park [because of the Grenfell Tower tragedy] .

We are planning an opening ride for the route in the early new year so we will formally invite you all to join us. [We will be pleased to join that ride]

On-street Parking – Dockless Bikes

I’m pleased to advise that we have brought on board another team member to work with me on these two major projects. We are seeking to establish a network of on-street secure cycle storage units , which when we asked for locations we were swamped, so its taking us much longer to evaluate the proposed sites. [This is good news]

In addition we are evaluating everything around the provision of dockless bikes in the borough, with an aim of recommending the best option for the borough as we seek to get more of our residents cycling.

UPDATE FROM RICHARD DUFFILL – LBHF [CS9 MATTERS]

CS9 Consultation.

Firstly I’d like to express my thanks to yourself and all your membership for the support and efforts made to promote the TfL consultation on CS9. I’m expecting to hear some news from TfL in early December regarding the outcome of the consultation.

Residents and businesses are being given more time to review proposals for a cycle path through Hammersmith.

Transport for London recently finished a public consultation on its plans for the route, which would run from Brentford to Kensington via King Street in Hammersmith.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is now calling on the Mayor of London to ensure proposals for the route include measures to maximise pedestrian safety and to encourage less confident riders.

Although the TfL consultation ended on 31 October, the council wants to ensure everyone who might be affected can have their say, so will continue to accept feedback until January next year.

Must bring benefits

“Cycling brings many benefits to the borough, but any suggested new route should serve the communities it passes through,” said Cllr Wesley Harcourt, H&F Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Residents’ Services.

“Local people have told us they want better and safer routes for cyclists, but residents also want to feel safe using the route as a casual rider, or crossing it as a pedestrian.

“This TfL proposal is a major piece of infrastructure, spanning the borough, so we’ve got to be sure this is absolutely the right scheme for all our residents and businesses.

“We want to hear as many people’s views as possible and that’s why we have extended our consultation time.”

Any additional responses I receive will be presented to the PAC meeting at the end of January alongside the TfL response report and then the committee response will help form my recommendation to the Cabinet member and then Cabinet in March 2018.<<<

I would stress that this additional opportunity for our residents to comment has no bearing on the TfL formal consultation.

I would also advise that we will continue to work with H&F Cyclists on the design of CS9 over the next months.

DISCUSSION ON CS9

I have spoken to Richard Duffill on the phone but he would not reveal how the consultation has gone. However the upbeat nature of the last paragraph sounds positive.

Other signs that the consultation is continuing:

a] On the Chiswick Calendar website in an interview CS9 project leader Joy Wigg of TfL has indicated that TfL will consider comments for a short while by email – consultations@tfl.gov.uk .

b] John has received a letter from his local Conservative Councillors that they would like to receive comments on the local CS9 proposals. They emphasise possible congestion problems among other concerns.

Tonight we all had some misgivings about how CS9 was being portrayed by TfL. John considered TfL to be quite disingenuous about short-term traffic congestion and TfL does not mention pollution.

At that meeting Ed Boatman of TFL appeared to John to be quite evasive in putting any numbers on the expected delays beyond the gyratory, talking about vast amounts of data not suitable for the layman. He was asked to put some figures on the LBHF website for public consumption and said that might be possible. [Nothing has appeared]

At that time delays were given as an increase in the time to traverse the gyratory. So from Fulham Palace Rd to get to Shepherds Bush road in the evening peak would take about 80% longer. That also means that queues back along the FPR would take 80% longer to clear.

Far from giving more detailed info this time round the delays were only given for bus journeys, and remember these have bus lanes in the rush hour. There would be very little differences in these times before and after CS9. Missing from these bus journeys was anything on the Fulham palace Rd.

HOW OTHERS VIEW CS9

Tom Ryland, the Chairman of the Hammersmith Society, has written to his members expressing concern and urging them to respond to their consultation.

2nd December and 9th December respectfully. We decided that we would not have enough people to look after a stall. Casey will have a stall for OMA bikes on the 9th in North End Rd. Worth a visit to see the car-free days.

John will make contact with the local police concerning closer contact and discussing things like bike theft.

RIDES AND EVENTS

Sunday 3rd December – Chiswick Car Boot Sale. We may have a ride.

Christmas ride to the White Cross, by the river in Richmond for lunch. 10th December leaving about 10.30am. Leaving from the observation platform at the end of Queen Caroline Street, nearly under Hammersmith Bridge. More later.

Susannah Woodgate would like your feedback on perceived wisdom of designing and building segregated systems in the way the Local Authorities/ TfL seem to be doing, and whether people think these concrete, permanent, fixed and inflexible systems are favoured by cyclists, or if cyclists [like me – SW] think there are other ways of doing things, such as with armadillos or orcas? – susannahtheo@yahoo.com

John has put this on our Facebook page where you can respond rather than have the discussion on the email list. If there many replies on a subject people leave our email group in droves.

We want to see CS9 go ahead safely. Hounslow LCC have designed some promotional postcards, and as they had put all the effort into this we agreed to pay for 2000 to be printed. We have taken only 500 cards at the moment as they are better organised than us so far at distribution.

At the meeting people agreed to cover the following:

Riverside at Furnivall Gardens, Bike shops on King Street and in Fulham.

Some schools near the route, and around Brackenbury, and cyclists walking around the gyratory.

DISCUSSION ON Cycle Superhighway 9

John talked about the Hammersmith Gyratory Plans. He showed some distance-time graphs of how he believed a cyclists’ green wave might go eastwards through the gyratory. He is hoping to discuss this further with LBHF and TfL Officers before giving advice on how to respond to the consultation.

HENRIETTA briefly showed us her plans for an east – west quietway that would include a cycle ramp to cross the railway line at Olympia station and a route along the southern edge of the cricket field in Holland Park. She is collecting signatures for a petition. Henrietta has arranged to cycle the route with Richard Duffill, the LBHF Cycling Officer in the near future.

SAID talked of riding with his daughters with Camden Cyclists to the Lea Valley http://camdencyclists.org.uk/2017/10/lea-valley-ride-october-2017/

PAUL asked if the committee would vote now on providing wine for next year’s Annual Meeting. We said we would not vote now. However we thanked Petrina for bringing 2 bottles of wine along tonight.

We will spend a short while greeting any new people who have come along.

UPDATE FROM LBHF – FROM RICHARD DUFFILL [Cycling Officer]

I’ve just returned from leave so some of the updates are a bit short.

CS9.

It’s good news regarding the development of CS9 in the borough. Over the last few weeks we’ve been working with TfL on the documents that will be needed for a public consultation. TfL would like to start the consultation on the 20th September which will run until the 31st October.

We’re arranging a number of public meetings which will be advertised next week, but if you would like to consider me presenting at a HF Cyclists meeting to see the proposals please let me know.

On-Street secure cycle storage.

We had a huge response to our request for possible locations for secure bike storage units, in fact over 120!! We’re currently working our way through the requests, to identify and map locations. Once we have this map we’re then looking to allocate the first ten units after going through planning etc.

Dockless Bikes

Following the dumping of the obikes in the borough we’ve been working with TfL and other borough’s to work up a code of practice and Memorandum of understanding. Whilst we remain committed to giving all our residents more opportunities to cycle, we must do so in a way that is safe and doesn’t cause complete chaos on our streets.

East-West Cycle Superhighway

You might have seen that TfL announced that they would be moving forward with developing the East-west Cycle Superhighway from Wood Lane to Savoy Circus. This will be developed over the next six months with a view to build in early 2018.

If you have any specific requests for updates on please let me know before your meeting.

In a telephone conversation with Richard Duffill today, he said that the Hammersmith Gyratory itself would not be subject to further consultation. CS9 and Beadon Road would be included, but not the gyratory as it has already been consulted upon.

Since the last public consultation on the gyratory the crossing going north towards Shepherds Bush Road has been reinstated, and the cycle entry to King street is now 2-way rather than 1-way. TfL had also promised further traffic modelling would be available on the affect on congestion at the gyratory and surrounding roads. There is also a problem of a potentially lethal arrangement for cyclists as they approach Beadon Road from the south, if it has not been changed.

The problem here is that the signal to stop cyclists crossing Beadon Rd lies not beside Beadon Road but some 15m to the south before the main pedestrian crossing. That is some 25m away from safety on the other side of Beadon Rd. Cyclists may be impeded by illegal pedestrians rushing across when they see a gap in the traffic. A cyclist going through a green light may end up in Beadon Road with traffic bearing down on them. And the system has to be able to cater for children, not just fast commuters. The phasing of the lights will also take a chunk out of the cyclists go time. [5mph = 2.2m/s]

One would think that TfL would change its mind on this consultation. Central LCC and Hounslow LCC will work together with us on the Consultation.

NORTH END ROAD FESTIVAL STALL

Saturday 23 September. A chance to meet the public and promote ourselves on our stall. We will have a stall next to Casey and Peri who have a business selling cycles and accessories. Peri had many suggestions for how we should present ourselves, including a short questionnaire on what cyclists want. Also to promote LBHF’s free cycle training, and Bike maintenance course. And BikeRegister.

Ken, John, Paul, maybe Janusz, Gerry perhaps later on will be on the stall at times. Others who would like to participate please contact John.

There is also a Facebook page that has been organised for our group by the LCC. This is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/173533126068236/

HAVE YOUR SAY – AIR QUALITY ACTION PLAN – MONDAY 18 SEPT

Residents are invited to come and share their views on Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s draft Air Quality Action Plan..

The meeting takes place on Monday 18 September, at 7pm in The Courtyard Room, Hammersmith Town Hall, King Street, Hammersmith, W6 9JU. If you can’t make the meeting, you can view and comment on the draft action plan here. For more information, or to read the agenda and reports, visit our website.

Casey and Said are hoping to organise a ride suitable for children soon.

REPORT ON A RIDE

Ken and Janusz had spent 4 days riding along the Great Glen. Their trip took them from Fort William to Inverness. They spent the nights in hostels that cost from £20 to £27 a night. They rode an average of 25 miles a day. Should be easy. But for some reason the route took them up to a height 500m, which was a bit tiring.

We encourage more members to get together for rides, or camping or hostelling trips.

PREPARING FOR OUR GENERAL MEETING NEXT MONTH

This is not now called our AGM, as, as being part of the LCC, there can only be one AGM in the organisation. Our constitution says that we can only select members of our Management Committee from people who are members of the LCC. Please consider becoming a member of the LCC if you are not already. https://membership.lcc.org.uk/

Please contact John if you are interested in being on our Management Committee.

AOB

Henrietta: Would like to have a cycle route into K&C that crosses the railway at Olympia station and crosses the southern side of Holland Park. John said that in the past opposition from Friends of Holland Park. John suggested she contact Chris Bainbridge of LBHF who knows the history of such attempts. Henrietta on hsbewley@gmail.com if you want to support her.

Henrietta: For cyclists cycling north on Sinclair Rd at the junction of Hazlett rd, there should be yield signs on hazlett rd, or some other improvement. Road markings give precedence to turning traffic over the cycle route which just disappears at this junction. Henrietta should send an email to Richard Duffill explaining the problem.

John: CycleSurgery on High Street Kensington closing soon, because its partner shop Snow and Rock is going to take over the space.

Peri: No London Borough has so far come to an agreement with obikes. LB Ealing has made an agreement with Mobikes to start in October or November.

It was a very wet evening. We would hope to have more members at a meeting.

UPDATE ON THE STATE OF CYCING IN THE BOROUGH

Richard Duffill, the LBHF Cycling Officer, is away on annual leave, so there is no update from him.

A couple of weeks ago there was a planning meeting for Hammersmith Gyratory and the CS9 superhighway that is to run along King Street. Borough Cycling Officers, TfL, and Simon Munk, a representative from the LCC, were there.

Simon put forward the concerns local LCC groups had about the plans. My main concern was that there was no stop signal adjacent to the roadway at Beadon Road for cyclists coming from King Street and going east at the gyratory. The stop signal is some 15m to 20m further back, before cyclists come to the main pedestrian crossing going to the station. Cyclists going through a green light, and being slowed down by pedestrians attempting to cross when they should not, could get whacked they come to Beadon Road.

Let us see if any changes are made to the plans before they are put out for public consultation in the next month or two.

RIDE LONDON – SATURDAY 29 JULY 10am for 10.30 depart.

We will be leading a led ride from Brook Green to Constitution Hill. Anyone who wishes to be a marshal should register through the online form. and go to the google docs form at the bottom of that page. Ken McCosh will be leading the ride and dealing with the marshals. Please contact Ken for more info. 07979 703 570 / mccosh@postmaster.co.uk

We also want people at act as greeters for the people turning up. This is to encourage a feeling of belonging and also to collect email addresses. If you would like to be involved with this please contact John, details below.

RIDES AND EVENTS

22 July Hounslow LCC ride. Meet at 11am Turnham Green Station – going to K&C arts and crafts and gems

On Sunday 30 July there are the rides that go out to Surrey through Hammersmith, and return through Fulham. You may wish watch them as they pass.

Please find below an update on the various cycling schemes in the borough.

1 Better Junction scheme.

The Detailed Design for the junction is ongoing but is now evaluating initial options on a scheme for Beadon Road. The proposed options being considered are all aimed at improving the provision for cyclists, and in particular how this can be achieved with a Bus lane. The Bus Lane issues relate to concerns from residents of Hammersmith Grove that a Bus Lane will increase rat running of vehicles into Hammersmith Grove.

2 Background work on this part of the project has been ongoing, with emphasis now being placed on gathering as much traffic data and pedestrian movement data for the area as possible. This will enable us to be better informed for creating possible designs. Now that the elections are over we will arrange a meeting to discuss the options.

3 CS9.

Outline concept plans for the route have being finalised which will enable TfL to carry out initial traffic modelling. This modelling is completed, and analysed, and results are expected this week. Subject to these outcomes we are in the process of agreeing a date for public consultation.

4 Quietway 2.

Construction is well under way of Quietway 2 through Wormwood Scrubs. It is expected that work will continue until July. We will be organising an opening ride probably in August. HF Cyclist are invited to that event.

5 Brackenbury Parklet.

The ‘Parklet’ has been a huge success with many cyclists now using it as a stopping place for a break. Further cycle standsand other cycle friendly elements are being considered including a street pump.

6 Eco Fair in Lyric Square. We exhibited a Bikehanger secure storage unit which was well received by all visitors. We continue to gather possible locations.

7 Initial route ride and proposals have been recorded for a Thames Path Quietway. The main issues to resolve remain how to access Bishops park in a safe and convenient manner for cyclists against all the other users.

Regards

Richard

Richard Duffill

Cycling Officer

Transportation and Highways

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

BIKEHANGARS

To suggest a location for a bikehangar go to www.cyclehoop.rentals. They need 3 people to make a suggestion for a given location before it proceeds any further. So if you have entered a place please let John know [by replying to this email, and we will try to get further support for that place.]

RECENT STALLS

a] Hammersmith Grove on Saturday 10 June.

Thanks to Ken, Victoria, Elaine, Casey who helped out energetically on the stall. Over 50 people left their email addresses. We shall see how many actually join the email group.

While we were there John met Andy Slaughter MP and congratulated him on his success. John thanked him for supporting LCC aims for the election.

Also the leader of the Council Cllr Stephen Cowan joined us on our stand for about ten minutes and we discussed various transport issues.

b] Eco Fair in Lyric Square on Monday 12 June.

Richard Duffill had invited John to share his stall at this event and we collected 10 more email addresses. [for some reason there is an image of John behind the stall at the bottom of

We hope that Roger de Freitas will to be able to arrange a garden party to bring the whole group together.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVITIES

We discussed what may bring more people to a meeting or an event. Petrina asked why we have stopped providing wine at meetings. John explained that since then meetings have been more focused on cycling matters. We are a campaign group. Suggestions included having a meeting on a special topic like bike maintenance, how to use gears etc. And rides to special events, or to a picnic. At Roger’s party people may come up with further ideas of sociable events. Anyone wishing to lead a ride or have an event please contact John.

LCC

We encourage every one to join the London Cycling Campaign for the many benefits it gives. Also the website has many events that you can participate in.

www.lcc.org.uuk

EXPENSES

Ken had expenses of £20 for refreshments.

John had expenses of £7 for rent of the Hammersmith Grove stall

DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday 11 July, 7.15pm for 7.30pm, at the home of John griffiths, 122c Edith Rd, West Kensington, W14 9AP – please put in your diary now.

We were pleased to meet David and Fernando. David has been a member for a long time but spends a lot of time in the Republic of Ireland working on IT systems. He first raised the issue on our email group of the footway and the road space of Glenthorne Rd being taken over by developers. He has a normal bike and a road bike which he takes to the Surrey hills.

Fernando is a friend of Vin. He cycles to commute. During the meeting he showed that he is a mine of information about cycling matters.

UPDATE ON THE STATE OF CYCING IN THE BOROUGH

Richard Duffill, the cycling Officer for LBHF, has kindly sent us this update on the various cycling schemes in the borough.

1 Better Junction scheme. The Detailed Design for the junction is ongoing but is now awaiting development of a scheme for Beadon Road.

2 Beadon Road. Background work on this part of the project has been ongoing, with emphasis now being placed on gathering as much traffic data and pedestrian movement data for the area as possible. This will enable us to be better informed for creating possible designs. It is likely that any workshops will now be held after the General Election.

3 CS9.No change from last month. Outline concept plans for the route are being finalised which will enable TfL to carry out initial traffic modelling. Once this modelling is completed, and analysed, a date will be agreed for public consultation.

4 Quietway 2.Construction is well under way of Quietway 2 through Wormwood Scrubs. It is expected that work will continue until June where we will be organising an opening ride. HF Cyclist are invited to that event.

5 Brackenbury Parklet. The ‘Parklet’ has been a huge success with many cyclists now using it as a stopping place for a break. Further cycle stands are planned to be installed in the near future at this location.

6 On Street secure cycle parking Units.

Planning locations for the on-street parking units is ongoing.

OUR DISCUSSION ON THIS

TfL were going to review the plans for Cycling Superhighway 9 but have postponed this to the end of the month. It is frustrating not having access to the plans, possibly not until they go out for consultation.

1,2 Local residents have complained about a proposed bus lane in Beadon Rd, hearing that it will create rat runs in local streets. At one point Cllr Stephan Cowan decreed that there would not be a bus lane, but that position appears to have gone away.

The Better Junction Review is to make Hammersmith Gyratory more cycle friendly. It appears mainly to be on the W – E, E – W corridor across the north of the gyratory. On the last seen plans there is no safe access to it from Shepherds Bush Rd. John has concerns that it does not take into account the behaviour of pedestrians who will cross the road against a red light if the way is clear, or if the traffic is at a stand still. These pedestrians may hamper cyclists. There could be a situation where cyclists from King St have gone through a green light , are slowed down, and continue to cross Beadon Rd just as the Beadon Rd traffic is accelerating away from the lights. John thinks there must be a red light at that point.

Vin and Fernando pointed out that at Blackfriars they did not consider the Superhighway to be good for either cyclists or pedestrians. Vin questioned why a brake was being put on new superhighways by Sadiq Khan.

3 Plans for CS9 in LBHF include a 2-way segregated track along King Street. The latest plans were for it to be on the north side of King street from the gyratory to around Macbeth St, and then switch to the south side. [by the way Hammersmith Broadway strictly refers only to the short bit of road to the north of the Piccadilly line station entrance, which was once an old fashioned main street.]

Stephen Donnelly of the Hounslow Cycling Campaign has questioned whether such a track is suitable where there are many side turnings. He refers to TfL’s London Cycling Design Standards, which state the model of two-way tracks should be applied only very selectively, and points to the last few paragraphs of Section 5.3.4, which recommend closing side roads or, subject to site specific risk assessment, ‘bending out’ the cycle track away from the road to create a five metre long waiting space for turning vehicles.

Richard Duffill has replied to Stephen saying that the designs are safe and fully comply with the LCDS. The LCDS can be downloaded for free from

This link also provides the Cycling Level of Service Tools. I have been to a discussion group with Brian Deegan of TfL who introduced this way of assessing cycling schemes. One of the features is a “critical fail” where some part is just considered too dangerous. I hope these tools will be used in this case to assure us that the scheme is safe.

4 We welcome the invitation. John wonders how many of the potential cyclists will want to go north up to mitre way, rather than take the existing route south to go further south towards Wood Lane. The exit to turn right is particularly difficult there.

Richard Duffill, the Cycling Officer for LBHF has sent us the following update. My comments in square brackets.

Better Junction scheme.[Hammersmith Gyratory]

We are currently carrying out the Detailed Design Section of work for this project which means that we are determining the General Arrangement for the scheme, or Kerb lines. This is a process that enables us to make changes to the concept design and is a process that involves regular meetings with TfL to agree those changes.

Beadon Road.

The section of Beadon Road that is included in the Better Junction scheme was discussed at the recent PAC meeting, and following that meeting the Council and TfL agreed to review the design and modelling of the Bus lane which had been included in the consultation. It was agreed that a design workshop with stakeholders would be set up in the next few weeks (probably after Easter) to work through possible solutions and ideas.

CS9. [Segregated 2-way cycle route along King Street from borough boundary at Goldhawk rd to the gyratory, and then on to Olympia]

Outline concept plans for the route are being finalised which will enable TfL to carry out initial traffic modelling. Once this modelling is completed, and analysed, a date will be agreed for public consultation.

Quietway 2.

Construction is well under way of Quietway 2 through Wormwood Scrubs. It is expected that work will continue until June where we will be organising an opening ride. HF Cyclists are invited to that event.

Brackenbury Parklet.

I’d invite you all to visit the newly installed ‘parklet’ on two car parking spaces in Brackenbury village outside the Deli.

[RD attached a photo].

This is our first ‘statement’ that says that there are other uses for car parking spaces, and we intend to roll out more units in the borough. Any locations that members suggest will be considered.

On Street secure cycle parking Units.

Thank you for those of your membership who sent me requests. We’re working with CycleHoops who have a data base of requests and currently there are around 16 locations that have been identified. Our next action is to evaluate these and work with residents to get them installed.

We discussed all these points. The expectation of a parklet was some provision for cycle parking. We were surprised at the photo. Think of piglet and you may get some idea of what a parklet may be. It is a little wooden sculptured area for sitting and plants. If you have any suggestions of places for a micro-park please let John know and I will pass it on, also for locations for secure parking units.

Paul told us that he had heard that QPR may be moving to the Linford Christie Stadium which is alongside the Scrubs quietway.

On Beadon Road John may suggest a design that allows buses to get away first, by separate lights for the bus lane, so that buses do not have to cross the other traffic to get to the bus station. The current problem with Beadon Road has come about because residents are upset that modelling predicts that the double bus lane will cause a back up of other traffic, and increased traffic on Hammersmith Grove to avoid the delays.

PREPARATIONS FOR NORTH END ROAD SPRING FESTIVAL

Saturday 29 April 9am to 5pm

We have a stand next to Casey’s stand where he will be selling bike stuff. It will be in the middle of the market near Coomer Place. We need volunteers to spend some time on the stand throughout the day. Please reply [Not reply all] if you can spend some time there. It will be a very pleasant time dealing with the public, collecting emails for our email group, and encouraging people to go on the ride on the next day.

PREPARATIONS FOR BLUEBELL RIDE

Sunday 30 April. We will depart 11am from the observation platform at the end of Queen Caroline street, beside Hammersmith Bridge. Bring a picnic and enjoy meeting new people on this family ride to Richmond Park. Suitable for accompanied children. If you want to help with the ride please let John know.

PUBLICITY

For the North End Road stand we will have notices of which people can take a photo, rather than giving out leaflets. We need to invigorate the facebook page website.

QUESTIONAIRE

As so few of our members are actively involved in the group, Casey has suggested we have a questionnaire or survey of what people might want from the group and how they might help. We will try and do this after Easter. In the meantime if you wish to help in any way now that it is sunny, or let us know your special interests, please let John know.

ACCOUNTS and BUDGET

It is that time of year when LCC expects our accounts and budget for the coming year. Ken, our treasurer, is dealing with this. We discussed the budget for this year.

The LCC would also like local groups that have adequate funds to forgo the annual grant, which is about £300. We decided we would forgo this, but would resist more requests that the LCC might make for money from us.

REFRESHMENTS

We all preferred not providing wine at the meeting, as it led to a faster more business-like meeting.

We discussed Richard Duffill’s clarification about Fulham Broadway, where he said LBHF did not have any active plans at the moment, but did not rule out something happening.

Elizabeth Hopkirk will write to her local councillors in Palace Riverside and also Cllr Ben Coleman of Fulham Broadway about Chelsea FC’s vision in 2014 for improving cycling and walking in the area of Fulham Broadway.

>> In a statement Chelsea said: “This study will review the potential for improvements to publicly owned areas along Fulham Road and the area around the football ground, including the possibility of decking over the railway lines to the east and north of the ground. This could create landscaped public walkways and cycleways, while also reducing pedestrian traffic on Fulham Road and nearby streets on match days. >> in an article written by Elizabeth.

Residents in Hammersmith Grove are becoming very organised in opposing plans for Beadon Road. It is possible that residents south of the gyratory will become more savvy and organised in opposing plans for the gyratory. We need somehow to attract more members who are interested in making the gyratory plans work.

John will be meeting Richard Duffill, the LBHF cycling officer, to discus the latest news.

Janusz recently suggested a driver turn off his engine and received an unwelcome reply. So safety in numbers.

WILL NORMAN

Will Norman is the new Walking and Cycling commissioner appointed by Sadiq Khan. There will be a meeting with him on Thursday 16 March organised by Ealing LCC. It will be held at the Grove Café. More details later.

NORTH END ROAD FESTIVAL

Possibility of a stall on Saturday 29 April. We agreed that we would have a stall, if that can be arranged through Casey as on previous occasions.

FEEDER RIDE TO RIDE LONDON

Saturday 29 July – LCC have asked whether we want to organise a led feeder ride for the Freecycle London event We agreed that we would.

Paul pointed out that although we collected many email addresses here and elsewhere, not many people actually become involved in our activities.

John said that when people gather in Brook Green for the ride we should make more effort to welcome them and collect all email addresses. And encourage the riders to interact with each other more. And perhaps we can make the group more interesting.

Laza said that the emotional content of our message is what is important, and we should use video clips to promote ourselves. Basically we need some publicity if anyone is willing to come forward and help work on it. Please contact John if you want to be involved.

LANDMARK HOUSE PLANNING

The date for submitting planning comments is 10 March 2017. The planned hotel is close to the kerb of the A4. The first floor overhangs the ground floor footprint, and is 3m from the kerb. A support pillar is just over 3m from the kerb. Will the footway from Blacks Lane to the crossings of the A4 be blocked during construction? Will there be space for any cycling links afterwards?

On the LBHF planning site 2017/00172/FUL

John will make a comment on the planning portal.

THE TRIANGLE SITE
The Planning Inspectorate will meet in Hammersmith Town Hall starting on 22 March for about 5 days. John plans to raise 3 point as objections or comments

1] The provision of cycle stands for offices is only about half of the LBHF planning requirement.

2] they plan to park lorries in Beadon Rd while they are waiting for space to get in.

3] if our plans for moving the bus stop back to beside the Triangle site go ahead, making sure the pavement space is not blocked, and hopefully including more space for a bus layby.

RIDES AND EVENTS

Bluebell ride 30 April. This will be to Richmond park and Barnes Common where some bluebells may be found. hopefully we can promote this widely.

EXPENSES

Ken had expenses of £21 for refreshments for cyclists after the recent PAC meeting.

Richard Duffill, the Cycling Officer at LBHF, has kindly sent John an update. The various sections were read out at the meeting and discussed, as follows.

RD – Richard Duffill, JG – John Griffiths, HFC – our group in general

JG: I had asked RD about the future of the Westway Cycling Superhighway, as Sadiq Khan has announced its abandonment. I had heard that an alternative route was going to be put forward.

RD: If Westfield did object I can only assume it was because the transport modelling done by TfL showed queues on the Westway once the vehicle lane had been removed. We didn’t actually believe the modelling results as it didn’t seem to reflect our knowledge of traffic in the area.

If you can’t use the elevated section of Westway, actually creating a new route is really difficult, (I think TfL would have proposed it if one existed).

RD: Gyratory.

We have now entered into a detailed design agreement with TfL so that the next stage of the Gyratory scheme can be progressed. Engineers have been engaged by H&F to develop the detailed design for H&F. This enables us to have complete control of the design of the scheme.

JG: I have previously mentioned to RD that I had some questions about how it would work. It appears that eastbound cyclists would be going from the west of the pedestrian crossing on King St to reach the north of Beadon Rd in one swoop.

a] This is a distance of about 50m. Slower cyclists turning a sharp corner and with pedestrians waiting close to the track might be doing only 6mph. 1mph = 0.447 m/s, and it would take such cyclists 16s to complete that passage. The light phases at the moment are about 20s long. The designers have to avoid cyclists being stuck in the path of pedestrians, or worse crossing Beadon Rd, when the lights change.

b] The plans at the moment are for south bound cyclists to go further south beyond the entrance to King Street. But traffic is likely to be flowing in King St and they will be held up and hold up the cyclists heading for King Street. Another problem to be surmounted.

RD CS9.

We are awaiting revised drawings from the Cycle Superhighway team at TfL to comment upon and agree. The next stage will be to run these provisional drawings through a modelling programme to see what the impact is on all modes of transport.

HFC: We hope this goes ahead OK. This 2-way segregated track was designed after we had raised safety concerns about the original 1-way contra-flow stepped track on King Street.

RD: Quietways:

The East Acton to Kensington Quietway is at detailed design stage and changes have been made to the alignment to meet the requirements of the Wormwood Scrubs Trust. This was only a slight amendment so no problem for our designers or the cost of the scheme.

North – South Quietways.

We have been approached by TfL to develop two new Quietways. One will be south of the Gyratory and will follow the Thames path alignment, the second will head northwards and follow an alignment to the East of Shepherds Bush Road. We are expecting confirmation of funding later in January.

HFC: We speculated on where this route might be. For the route following the Thames we were concerned about the part through Bishops Park if it ran next to the Palace grounds. Here the path is narrow and there are humps covering tree routes. John understands some cyclists have fallen off when avoiding the humps and then rejoining the path at an angle. One of us at the meeting recently came a cropper in Kensington Gardens in the same way, rejoining the path after a rumble strip. If the path is in this vicinity it must be made safe for cyclists, however they treat it.

RD: On-Street parking.

We will be opening up a brief consultation this month asking for locations for the following on-street parking stands. Firstly, I would like to hear from any residents who wish to have additional on-street cycle parking hoops. I have a budget to spend, so any requests for additional ‘ Sheffield stands’ should be submitted to me as soon as possible. [RD’s details at end of this passage]

In addition I am also able to consider sites in the borough for secure cycle units , similar to the ‘Bikehangers’ being installed in other boroughs. We are keen to start to install more secure cycle parking units in the borough . For information, we have been supplied with the locations of a number of these units from the Cyclehoops company who have a web site that shows requested locations.

We have designed a ‘cycle parklet’ to replace two car parking spaces in Brackenbury village outside the Deli. Currently we have located our Bike Hoop, which is a car shaped cycle park in one of the spaces in advance of the parklet being supplied in march. This unit will be located around the borough to replace car parking spaces.

Brickfields secure cycle parking initiative.

We have been working with the Brickfields resident group (Brickfields is an area adjacent to the Imperial College site on Wood Lane) to install a number of secure cycle parking units in their streets. The initiative will work with a review of parking in the area to create space for on street cycle parking units.

Grand Union Canal .

The Canal and Rivers Trust have been allocated funding to upgrade the towpath through Hammersmith, making it a consistent and wider shared use path, we are expecting work to commence in February.

HFC: Paul, who is a volunteer towpath ranger for the canal, does not know about this, but hopes to find out next week. Casey was concerned that there should be railings where the path goes under bridges.

RD: We are also keen to work with the HF Cyclist group to develop and promote more events in 2017. I therefore welcome any discussions that will promote cycling further in the borough.

HFC: We discussed possible events. The Greenfest which we used to organise was mentioned, but that is too much of an undertaking. Perhaps a cycling jamboree in Furnival Gardens where people who do not normally cycle can try out bikes. Particularly children. Perhaps tfl will give lend us some TfL bikes for the occasion.

Other rides suggested, a bluebell ride going to Richmond Park and Barnes Common where Bluebells may be found. It would be good if lBHF could help promote it. Paul was thinking of a ride in about a months time ending up somewhere for tea.

At least one more person who will become a member of the LCC wishes to join our MC. So our next meeting [in January] will be an EGM, an Extraordinary General Meeting. We discussed a little what was required of a co-ordinator, a position which is presently unfilled.

JOINING THE LCC

To be on the MC of hfcyclists one now needs to be a member of the LLC. See www.lcc.org.uk for details.

THE COMMUNITY ROAD WATCH SCHEME

Slobodan Vuckovic has sent a request for volunteers to help. The CRW is a scheme involving the public to try and stop speeding. Volunteers needed for launch in Boscombe Rd on 10 November at 1.30pm. Already Mireille Glossop has said she will attend. Anyone else please call SV on 020 8753 3360 asap.

The group was very supportive of this initiative.

NORTH END ROAD FESTIVAL

We will have an extra stall next to Casey’s stall at this event on Saturday 3 December. The following hope to be on the stall for a couple of hours during the day. Ken pm, Paul late am, Janusz, Vin, John. Others welcome, we will organise a rota later.

RIDES

We will collaborate with other West London LCC groups to have a ride to the White Cross in Richmond one Sunday morning in December. John will be in touch with other groups to decide the date. Paul, Janusz, Ken may marshal / lead the ride.

CYCLISTS DISMOUNT SIGN

This correspondence concerns a Cyclists Dismount sign outside the cinema on King Street, right by the Town Hall, whereas a “Narrow lanes, do not overtake cyclists” is the appropriate sign.

The emails are between John and Richard Duffill, Chris Bainbridge, Cllr Wesley Harcourt. The latest is at the top. The group were very pleased with the stronger line John took in the last message, and believed that the Cycling Officer should support the safety of cyclists in this way..

+++

Dear Richard, Chris, Wesley

Further to my earlier reply, I checked out the scene today. I could not see any sign of a notice that said narrow lanes in the area.

As my photo clearly shows that the cycle lane has been completely taken over, I really think that the contractors should be using the alternative sign. They obviously thought that a sign was necessary, they just got the wrong one.

Though I agree with you that most cyclists would adopt a primary position in the road, some less experienced ones will hug the kerb. And it only takes one to be in that position when a vehicle passes too close for a tragedy to happen. Are the contractors or the Council liable in that situation?

I really think that the alternative sign should be used, and the contractors forced to use it. This should be a precedent for every time a cycle lane is blocked.

The Traffic Management team at H&F did not recommend or request this sign, and it was added by the developer. I have asked that it be removed immediately as it sends out the wrong message completely, and having observed the cyclists today, none are taking any notice of the sign because they are all adopting a dominant cycling position on the carriageway through the crossing.(Which is where they should be!).

Having made that observation I don’t see any need for the advance sign you suggest, there are actually narrow lane signs already on King Street.

I saw this sign outside the cinema right next to the Town hall this afternoon, Monday, saying

Cyclists dismount and use footway.

We discussed this about a year ago. The sign that should be used is

Narrow Lanes. do not overtake cyclists

I hope that this can be rectified rapidly and all contractors can told about this.

Thanks

John Griffiths

Chair hfcyclists.

++++

UPDATE ON LBHF NEWS

The following was sent by Richard Duffill to John for tonight’s meeting. We thanked Richard for this, and discussed each section in detail.

Hi John,

Updates.

Gyratory Cycle lanes – The additional consultation carried out by TfL to ensure that some residents and businesses who didn’t receive all the original consultation material has now closed, and the results are being incorporated into a new summary report. Initial overview of those results suggests that the Resident groups from Hammersmith Grove have issues with the proposed Bus lane and additional traffic that will be directed to Hammersmith Grove. This latter comment is unfortunately the result of miss-information from members of a ‘blue-sky’ working group and is wholly incorrect.

The leader of the Council met with members of the resident groups but as of today I’m not aware of the outcome.

The council is in the process of agreeing the Design Services agreement with TfL which means that we (the council) are doing all the detailed design for the scheme.

CS9 – The original Quietway scheme has now been upgraded to a full Cycle Superhighway scheme and the initial concept design has been passed to the Super Highway team in TfL.

We are currently working with TfL on the links to the Gyratory scheme, in particular, the provision of a bi-directional track along the section of King street that passes Lyric Square.

Quietway from East Acton to Kensington. The consultation closed in September and indicated over 80% support for the Quietway route. Unfortunately the section of the route that entered Wormwood Scrubs and was a new track, has been re-routed following a meeting with the Wormwood Scrubs Trust. Plans are currently being revised to show this routing, which doesn’t add too much of a diversion. Delivery of the route is by the end of March 2017.

On Street cycle parking. We are currently working on two schemes in the Borough. The first is a scheme for the Brickfields area (Aynham Road) where we are proposing to install a number of Bikehanger products in the area.

The second project is to provide a cycle parklet in brackenbury which we are aiming to install in early December.

This is the revamped cycle path beside the Talgarth Rd. It was funded in part by Air Quality money. I truly hope that testing will be done to see if the tall grass used actually has any effect.

AOB

Paul brought up the subject of the Councils public cycle pumps at Hammersmith and Barons Court. Paul said that the Hammersmith one at the gyratory by Nandos did not work, and complained that there was no indication to find the one at Barons Court [Opposite the cemetery entrance]. Paul said that elsewhere they used taller versions of the pump, and it was difficult to support the bike when using the pump. Perhaps LBHF can look at these again.

EXPENSES

Ken had expenses of £35 for tonight’s refreshments.

DATE / PLACE OF NEXT MEETING

Because of everyone’s busy schedules we decided not to have a meeting in December. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 10 January 2017 at the home of John Griffiths. It will be a EGM to allow us to recruit more members to the MC, and perhaps elect a co-ordinator or two.

Here are some of the things we have been involved with Since April 2015

Promoted our NO2 results, which may have led to the Council setting up its Air Quality Commission

PAC meetings on 20mph

Central LCC meetings

3x Stalls in North End Road Extended Market, and at White City.

Recruited new members in Furnival Gardens, and at breakfast events organised by LBHF

2x Ride London feeder rides from Brook Green.

Midsummer Rides to the Roebuck in Richmond, and Winter rides to the White Cross in Richmond.

Ride along Wandle trail

Responded to Hammersmith Gyratory consultation, which may have led Council to changing plans for King Street. Also suggested cycle route for Beadon Road.

Responded to consultation on quietway that goes through Wormwood Scrubs

Attempted to get a bike–kitchen going at the Macbeth Centre

Produced business cards, and some newsletters for LCC magazine

Rogers Summer Garden Party.

Hosted regular monthly meetings

Website maintenance, and writing notes of meetings

Maintaining email group

Co-operated with Richard Duffill of LBHF.

Through email group, pressed for Glenthorne Rd signing for cyclists.

Produced accounts for us and LCC

Changed our status to being a Charity as part of LCC.

John Griffiths, Chair, 11 October 2016

++++++++++++

TREASURERS REPORT

London Cycling Campaign – Hammersmith & Fulham Branch

Financial Statement 2015 –16 (brackets refer to amount in bank)

Bals. free// restricted// total Bank

31.03.15 balances b/f £2987.81 + 3541.85 6529.66 (6823.94)

Income

LCC grant 279.80

Interest 15.29

Expend.

Projects 87.33

Entertain/promo 402.87

Bals. free// restricted// total Bank

Net expenditure 195.11 195.11

31.03.16 balances c/f £2792.70 + 3541.85 £6334.55 (6696.40)

Reconciliation at 31.03.16

Balance at bank 6696.40

Less unpaid cheques 361.85

_________

Book balance £ 6334.55

_________

Ken McCosh

Hon. Treasurer

Those present accepted the accounts and thanked Ken for all his hard work.

DISCUSSION

Casey opened a discussion on the purpose of the group, and how we communicate. He felt email was something that people mainly ignored. However it serves us well. When there are a lot of emails on a subject that does not concern some, you find a lot of people leave the group. It has been a bit like that with the Glenthorne Rd emails. These emails all went to the leader of the Council and many other officers. Finally John wrote to those writing on the subject and said please cut out these others copied in unnecessarily, and an email that just says hear-hear is not very useful. And David Blackett wrote to those writing saying keep to the subject, and start another thread if you want to talk about other problems. Lets use the group wisely to get things accomplished.

John thinks the email group is very useful, and we could have specialised sections if people wanted to develop a special interest. The email group has over 450 members. We have a twitter account and a facebook page, but we do not use them much.

Casey also questioned what we should concentrate on, but that really depends on peoples interests. As far as infrastructure goes there is a lot happening at the moment, with Hammersmith Gyratory, and rumours of King Street being pedestrianised.

At the North End Road market we collected 27 email addresses. We send those to Yahoo who sends out invites, and we hope many will actually join our email group.

+++++++++++++++

REFRESHMENT BREAK

+++++++++++++++

HFCYCLISTS FIRST ANNUAL MEETING as part of the Charity LCC.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE.

The new constitution shall apply. Officers and members to be elected must be members of the LCC. Only those who are members of the LCC may take part in the elections.

We welcomed Vin, who although he has helped at events and has been pressing for a bike workshop at Macbeth Centre, has not been to a meeting before. Later after the formal meeting had closed we were very pleased to meet Naila, who is an environmental consultant, and hopefully will be involved where she is able.

CHANGE OF CONSTITUTION

We discussed the pros and cons of whether the group should change its Constitution from its present one at

We AGREED to change to the new one, approved at the meeting for adoption at our AGM / AM on 11 October

Under the Charity Status the Officers and MC must all be members of the LCC. All members of hfcyclists are encouraged to be members of the LCC.

++++++++++

FOLLOWED BY OUR REGULAR MEETING

SHALL WE TRANSFER £1000 OF OUR FUNDS TO LCC

LCC are requesting that we give them some of our funds. They say as a charity we should only be holding funds that we can spend in the next year, and they have a financial problem. We AGREED to transfer £1000 to the LCC.

GREEN TRANSPORT DAY Thursday 22 September

Richard Duffill of LBHF has invited us to have a stand at the “Green Transport Day”

Most of the day is fun event for children, but from 3pm to 5pm adults are encouraged to come. It is in the open air and we will be provided with a table, btu probably no cover. Casey says he will come to represent hfcyclists. If anyone is able to help him please contact Casey on 07975 612 368.

POSSIBLE PRESENCE AT NORTH END ROAD EVENT

This is at the North End Road Autumn Market on Saturday 8 October, when the road would be closed to cars. John explained that it was a lot of work, and that just greeting cyclists in Furnival Gardens was a much more effective way of recruiting new members. However Casey already has a stall there promoting his cycling business and we agreed to pay to enlarge his stall and we would have a presence on it. We will organise a rota of people interested in helping nearer the time. Meanwhile please let John know if you are interested in helping on that day – by replying to this email, NOT reply all.

I’d like to invite you to the Community Safety, Environment and Residents Services Policy & Accountability Committee (PAC) on Wednesday 21st September.

I’ll be chairing what promises to be a busy and productive meeting where we’ll be discussing:
– The borough’s new Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation Strategy
– The draft report of the H&F Air Quality Commission
– The council’s Environmental Planning Requirements

I hope to see you there, the more people we have contributing to the discussion, the better.

[John unable to go this as he will be having his knee done next week. I hope many of you will be able to go and contribute to the discussion]

RIDES

A couple of weeks ago Ken and Janusz led a ride along the Wandle way. Their report of the ride sounds like it was a very interesting day out.

The day after this meeting Casey, his wife Peri, Ken and two others guided new cyclists to work on the LCC’s BikeTube scheme, early in the morning from Shepherds Bush to Oxford Circus. This went very well, and the weather amazing.

Quite a few members have joined our email group recently. We hope to see or hear from some of you soon. Perhaps at our Summer Garden Party next week on Tuesday 19 July at 7.30pm or at the RideLondon Freecycle on Saturday 30 July.

OUR SUMMER GARDEN PARTY – THIS IS THE EVENT OF THE YEAR.

We now have a date for our garden party, next Tuesday 19 July at 7.30pm. Sorry about the short notice, but hope many of you will be able to make it.

At the home of Roger de Freitas, 31 Hartswood Road, W12 9NE. Please bring some drink with you and you are also welcome to bring a contribution to the feast. Advisable to come early to catch some rays, and the best of the food. There will be some cover if it rains, but forecast is good.

Please let John know by replying to this email if you are likely to come so that Roger will have some idea of the numbers for catering.

RIDELONDON FREECYCLE

We decided that the route for the led feeder ride from Brook Green would be along Kensington High Street and along South Carriage Drive.

Konstantinos will lead the ride and Ken, John and Janusz will be marshals.

Konstantinos will contact others who have been marshals previously. If you would like to be a marshal please contact Konstantinos on 07904 843 005, kparsalidis@yahoo.com

HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY and CS9

Nothing is happening fast on this. Richard Duffill of LBHF reports that the results of the consultation with recommendations will be published in the autumn. We had heard previously that LBHF not happy with the King Street plans and consultants were looking at a way of making a 2-way cycle lane go all the way to the gyratory [instead of it only being one way eastbound from Bridge Avenue to the gyratory as in the consultation.]

This is a planning application that has been refused by LBHF. It is for the development of the area between Beadon Rd, Glenthorne Rd and Hammersmith Grove. The appeal against this refusal has turned into a government public inquiry, likely to be heard early next year.

What ever happens with the King Street route, it is likely to be tricky at the gyratory getting through the pedestrian crossings. If the Eastbound route for cyclists along Glenthorne road and Beadon Rd were made easier for cyclists it would take some pressure of the CS9 route.

John explained that we have an opportunity to register with the Public Enquiry to present a case why land on the site should be reserved for improving traffic conditions in the area, and for making cyclists and other traffic move in a more satisfactory way. We decided to go ahead with this approach. If anyone is interested in helping to produce a case please contact John [as below].

2015/02573/FUL | Demolition of all existing buildings on the site and redevelopment to provide a building of between 8 and 14 storeys in height plus two basement levels,

Vin Aithal had a meeting with the person responsible at Macbeth today. Some of the points he has brought back

– they are very positive about the idea of making the centre ‘open access’ during periods of downtime

– on the negative side, they can’t do anything when a government funded course is taking place. This mainly leaves a few weekday afternoons and maybe bits of Saturday available to use for bike maintenance.

– there is a possibility to set up a bike maintenance ‘club’, where members pay a sub and get access to the workshop during certain periods. The sub pays for insurance and an on site technician. If a club member is competent, they may be able to take the place of the technician for supervision. Times when this club could exist are still being worked on.

here will be further meetings. I [John] am hoping that perhaps this is something LBHF could fund out of some sort of travel awareness funds.

EXCHANGING PLACES

This is where you can get inside an HGV to see where the blind spots are.

The London Cycling Campaign would like us to update our constitution [hfcyclists] to fit in with the LCC charity status. Konstantinos to go to a meeting on 28 July at Central LCC where this will be discussed.

We were pleased to see Mike here who is a member of the Hounslow LCC group. He is an electrical engineer who commutes from Chiswick to Baker Street via the A315, CS9 route.

HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY and CS9

TfL were expected to release the results of Hammersmith Gyratory consultation by 20 June. But this has been delayed.

My understanding of the situation is as follows.

CS9 – Chiswick High Road to Bridge Avenue

This will be a 2-way 3m wide segregated track on the South side of the road.

CS9 – Bridge Avenue to Hammersmith Gyratory

The consultation showed a stepped track in places and a segregated track elsewhere on this stretch of King Street. But it was eastbound only. We saw the plans for this section as unacceptably dangerous to cyclists, and LBHF want it to be 2-way. So this is back to the drawing board. The hope is to have a 2-way track on the North side of this section.

Hammersmith Gyratory

TfL are redesigning the plans so that the pedestrian crossing does not have to be removed.

Hammersmith Gyratory to border RBKC

This will be a 2-way segregated track on the North side of the road.

MIKE told us of the progress further west. This is under the control of various design consultancies for different stretches. TfL is treating the stretch between Wellesley Rd and Kew Bridge as part of a Better Junction Review.

Wellesley Rd is being considered as a link cutting out Gunnersbury station and the Chiswick roundabout. The plan is to treat this as a quiet way. But the guideline for a quiet way is 2000 vehicles a day, whereas Wellesley Rd has 7,000 cars a day. Some way to stop cars using this rat-run to avoid all the lights on the main roads has to be found. There is presently a consultation directed at local residents at

Mike is a local resident and has been involved in measuring car speeds and volumes. He has done this from his first floor window pointing a webcam down on two chalk marks he has made on the carriageway. Software on his computer detects when each white line is broken, and images and time of transit are recorded, and converted to speeds. He has found the 85 percentile speed is 30mph in this 20mph area. [ie 15% of vehicles over 30mph]. Mike has taken part in the Community SpeedWatch scheme

Mike and his group are also interested in air pollution, and Andrea Lee recently spoke to a residents group concerned about the developments around Chiswick roundabout. Hounslow LCC at http://hounslowcycling.org/

PREPARING FOR BIKEWEEK 11 – 19 June

Saturday 11 June 10am – noon Meeting new cyclists

Join us in Furnival Gardens, at the Dove Inn end, to talk to passing cyclists and to let them know what we are doing and what is happening. John, Ken, Lars, Vin, Sima and perhaps Janusz are expected. We would hope to recruit new members. If any one else would like to join us please let me know. I will be sending a briefing guide to people coming. If there are light showers we can shelter in the Dove, or if forecast really miserable I will cancel the night before.

Wednesday 15 June 7pm Sunset ride to Richmond

Join us for our Sunset Ride to Richmond Hill. This will be a leisurely ride from Hammersmith to Richmond Park. We will end up at the Roebuck on Richmond Hill where we will meet up with other West London Groups for some drinks and laughs. Remember to bring lights for the ride back.

Meet from 7pm for 7.15 departure. At the observation platform overlooking the Thames at the end of Queen Caroline street, almost under Hammersmith Bridge. W6 9DA

On the forecourt of Hammersmith Town Hall. Laid on by LBHF, mainly for their employees, but they have extended a warm welcome to our members. Come and meet other cyclists, and the team responsible for cycling matters at the council. There will be a Dr Bike there.

Also if anyone is available to recruit new members during this time, or at the next day’s event, please contact John.

Thursday 16 June 8am – 10am Cyclists breakfast for people employed in Hammersmith. The Council is hoping to recruit cycling champions from the employers in Central Hammersmith. At the St Pauls Church café, the Kettle and Crust. The capacity at the café is limited so to give an idea of the numbers, lbhf are requiring employees to register for the event first.

KEN talked of his trip with his son to the Netherlands. They went by train and ferry to the island Texel where they hired bikes for a few days. And then back to Amsterdam where they again hired bikes. In Amsterdam Ken was very impressed by the school run, where there were often two children perched on a bike.

John works as a volunteer in the Amnesty Bookshop next to the Town Hall in King Street, usually Monday 10am -2pm and Friday 2pm – 6pm. Drop in if you want to discuss any cycling matters, and this week there is an exhibition of photos by Franco Chen and of carnival masks by Carl Gabriel.

We welcomed Casey, whom John met recently at a meeting concerning the improvement of North End Road. Casey’s family all cycle and he has a business dealing with children’s bikes.

SIGN FOR CYCLING CAMPAIGN

Sadiq Khan has signed up for safer cycling. Well done to those involved in the campaign, including Konstantinos.

HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY and CS9

Richard Duffill of LBHF has sent John the following as an update for the meeting.

>>>>>>

Hammersmith Gyratory consultation.

I’ve been in touch with TfL and they have given me some provisional outcome figures from the recent Gyratory consultation. There have been 656 responses, which is considered to be a good response.

Of those who responded, 57% were in favour of the scheme, 22% in favour but with a few concerns and 16% were not in favour.

TfL will analyse and evaluate the feedback from the consultation and will provide H&F Council with a full consultation report and provide recommendations for the council to consider.The council will evaluate the response and report to the Cabinet member.

I will share with you the report as soon as I have it.

In informal talks with TfL it seems that they will re-introduce the Pedestrian crossing from Shepherds Bush Road to the Broadway.

Cycle Superhighway 9.

Both Hounslow and ourselves are keen to progress Cycle Superhighway 9, and we recently presented our outline designs to the Cycling commissioner. He was impressed with the overall scheme but wanted us to investigate a few amendments. It will be interesting to see what happens now that London has a new mayor and if he retains the Cycling Commissioner. If we are to believe the new mayor, he has said London needs more Cycle Superhighways, and there should be more ‘Mini-Holland’ projects. However we will wait and see what happens in reality.

<<<<<<<

Richard Duffill has also indicated that LBHF are not satisfied with the plans drawn up by TfL for King Street and other consultants are expected to be working on a new design.

Casey is interested in this project, and in defining what we will do. John will get together with him and perhaps design leaflets.

BIKE WEEK 11-19 June

Casey suggested having the Police marking bikes. John will see if they have anything organised.

RIDES AND EVENTS

Petrina is keen to go on a ride, butas yet no one is organising one. If you feel like leading one please let John know. On the first Sunday of the month Ealing LCC has a ride, and on the same day there is the Chiswick car boot sale and nearby farmers market which is lovely ride along the river.

31 July – Prudential ride London

Elizabeth Hopkirk has asked if we will be holding a feeder ride this year as she would like to be a marshal. John presumes we will be holding one. Last year Konstantinos organised it.

FLYUNDER COMPETITION

Roger de Freitas has sent John a link for a competition on how Hammersmith might be with the flyunder, with a £1000 prize.

John explained that the flyunder is not quite as portrayed in the publicity. With a short tunnel there will still be as much traffic on the gyratory as at present. With a longer tunnel there will be more traffic on the gyratory as traffic from Barons Court, and the North End road will not be able to use the tunnel and will now be added to the gyratory traffic. There will still need to be traffic from Hammersmith going towards Heathrow, which will have to pass through the meadows between the Town Hall and the river.

Hfcyclists probably will not put in a joint entry, but everyone welcome to put in an entry.

Roger has also indicated that he hopes to arrange our traditional Summer Garden Party.

Including possible flyer and poster. Konstantinos has offered to design, and we would like to draw other people into it, so if anyone keen please contact Konstantinos. It should aim to get people to join our email group. At the moment what is going on at Hammersmith Gyratory should be a point of major interest.

If we have an event or news we should get it into the Hammersmith Today newsletter. Also the local newspapers. More possible events listed below under our budget considerations.

North End Road is having an extended market on both 21 and 28 May. The road will not be closed but there will be space for more stalls. If anyone wants to be involved please reply to John [Not reply all] so that we can see if we have enough people to go ahead.

LBHF NEWS

LETTER OF SUPPORT

John will be sending a letter to Richard Duffill of support for finance from TfL for an Air Quality project for measures around the south side of the gyratory. Konstantinos will send out a separate message asking members to send an email to Richard in support of this financial bid.

20MPH

20 mph limit has been passed by the Council on main roads as they go through town centres. There is talk of studying which measures might be needed to make it self enforcing. Their decision is at item 169 in

Richard Duffill was also asking us of our views on cycling beside the river. LBHF are beginning to look at the measures set out to reduce cyclist / pedestrian conflict. We agreed to support that the measures set out in the Cycling Strategy. We would not like to see cycling banned there.

Ken, our treasurer is preparing this. It also includes a budget for next year.

Possible expenditures include

a] refreshments at meetings

b] flyers and posters

c] film night

d] stall at North End Road festival, [Parsons Green fair not happening this year]

e] Information sessions in Furnival Gardens and other parks, with the object of getting new members. This would only be for a couple of hours or so at a time so less effort required than for a full day event. We may have a Dr Bike,

f] having an on-line survey on some subject, which means giving flyers to possible new members.

AOB

John suggested having a bike hangar to replace the SUDS Sustainable Drainage Systems that was abandoned in Edith Rd. He will write to richard.duffill@lbhf.gov.uk

EXPENSES

Konstantinos had expenses of £63.57 for cards and £38.93 for refreshments.

Lynn has sent an email to Konstantinos explaining how her new work commitments in Surrey meant that she has had little time to adequately fulfil her role as chair. We thanked her for what she had done whilst she was Chair.

ELECTION OF A NEW CHAIR.

Januscz proposed John, Konstantinos proposed Paul. John was elected by 4 votes to 1 with 1 abstention. Accordingly John Griffiths is the new Chair.

At the recent LBHF Policy and Accountability Committee meeting Richard Duffill of LBHF agreed with many of the points made in John’s submission.

This was that on the gyratory mainly OK, but no links to Shepherds Bush Road or Butterwick. At the main crossing by the station entrance if there are many cyclists it may not work.

The main Problem is on King Street where the road is too narrow to put in a safer link, and a narrow stepped track has been put in between Bridge Avenue and Lyric Square. This introduces many problems, such as wing mirrors overlapping the dynamic profile of cyclists, pedestrians darting across the road looking at the one way traffic and not noticing a cyclist coming from the other direction. This link is east bound only, with no provision for west bound cyclists.

Also the consultation does not deal with whole gyratory, but only the northern part. It is meant to be part of a Better Junction Review. [Janusz and Konstantinos praised how good Vauxhaul Bridge and the junction the other side are now. We want something of quality that that is safe for parents to use riding to school with children, and for inexperienced cyclists to use without fear]

Please respond to the consultation as you wish, and you may just say you support our response, or not.

John met with Richard Duffill, the LBHF project manager for the gyratory, this morning to look at opportunities on the south side of the gyratory. Perhaps there could be a straight across crossing of Fulham Palace road?

We also mentioned Shepherds Bush Green, and John hopes the Hamburger solution [cycle route across the centre] at Holland Park Roundabout will be looked at again so that it may give impetus for SBG to get sorted out.

This is a campaign to get Mayoral Candidates to sign up for safer cycling.

LCC says

We’re campaigning for a better London, where cycling is safe and enjoyable for people of all ages and abilities. If enough of us Sign for Cycling today, we can get our next Mayor to commit to:

1.More space for cycling on main roads and at junctions

2.A ‘Mini-Holland’ for every London borough

3.An end to lorry danger

Please sign the campaign at http://signforcycling.org/#signThePetition

LEAFLETTING

Konstantinos is organising a leafletting campaign on Sunday 13 March at Shepherds Bush Green [late morning, two others coming along], and on Saturday 19 March near Putney Bridge [early morning]. Konstantinos will send out details later. Or contact him on 07904 843 005

OUR PARENTS AND CHILDREN CYCLING PROJECT

Our request for parents with school age children to come forward did not produce a response. But we see children as a powerful symbol of vulnerable cyclists, and we would like to work with groups of parents with children.

John notes that a lot of parents can be seen outside nursery and infant schools with their bikes to carry children. Often they have their own informal groups. We would like to contact them.

And then what? Help them organise to raise local cycling issues. Have rides or gatherings so that they can meet parents from other schools?

ANY NEW PROJECTS and PUBLICITY

John has given Konstantinos copies of our business card which never got printed, and the old flyer as a basis of something new. If anyone wants to design a new flyer please get in touch with Konstantinos or John.

John met with Richard Duffill, the project manager from LBHF, earlier in the day to discuss some aspects of the consultation.

The consultation deals only the CS9 superhighway as it goes through Hammersmith Gyratory. Although the plan shows details on King street and Hammersmith Road, they are not part of the financial package being consulted on. However for the gyratory plan to work, it must connect satisfactorily with what is to the east and the west. At the moment the plan is only for a 1-way eastbound track on King street. West bound cyclists, if they do not just go straight into King Street, are supposed to enter Blacks rd.

Although the plan is welcome, there appear to be problems which need to be resolved.

Going from the west to east

1] Cyclists on the stepped track may be hit by wing mirrors

2] Why at the moment is the kerb built up on the outside curve as vehicles enter King street. Perhaps some vehicles do not make the bend and you want to make sure pedestrians are not wiped out. Now you are putting cyclists there in front of the barrier.

3] For east bound cyclists entering the gyratory the curve is very sharp, like you might topple off your bike.

4] The pedestrian crossing across Hammersmith rd has been removed because TfL think that the cycle track across the bottom of Shepherds bush road will act as a reservoir for waiting cyclists, and pedestrians will not be able to get through. We need to look at how the signals work, and to make sure cyclists will not be blocking the crossings at the entry to King Street. It would be good to reinstall the removed crossing. Richard Duffill talks of a green wave for cyclists in each direction.

6] LBHF want a 2-way cycle track on the south side of Hammersmith rd going to Olympia and beyond, not 1-way tracks as shown. This means 2-way cycle tracks on the island at the top of Butterwick, and also they must keep the access to the Hammersmith central island. You also need access to go south towards the Talgarth rd crossing.

7] On the west side hope vehicles entering Blacks road do not take out cyclists cycling north on the cycle track.

If any one wants to work with John doing things like checking the signals, checking the dimensions, looking at the protective barrier for scratch marks etc, please contact John.

John will enter a response on behalf of the group after more information has been obtained. It would be good if everyone responded to the consultation. If you want to send your views to John please do.

Konstantinos is going to a LCC Local groups Forum on 25 February, and LCC hopes that local group members will become active in the campaign.

MEETING ROOM

Konstantinos will be meeting Richard Duffill soon to discuss use of a room at the Council for meetings or events. Paul checked out the Hop Poles and they would like £200 for the use of their upstairs room.

PUBLICITY

John will get some business cards printed to promote us and our activities.

LCC NEWSLETTER

Deadline 22 February. John and Konstantinos may put something together.

EVENTS

Next LBHF PAC meeting March 2nd discussing the gyratory and East Acton quiet way

LCC forum, Andrew Gilligan 7 March 6.30pm

For the next (25th!) LCC Policy Forum seminar we are pleased to welcome back Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Cycling Commissioner, almost three years after he opened the series. Come and hear Andrew talk about progress made, what still needs to change, and likely challenges and priorities under a new mayoralty. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Lynn talked of her meeting with Cllr Iain Cassidy. they talked mainly of how we could help LBHF in its effort to promote cycling. One idea was a large ride with 50 or 100 youngsters riding around the Borough. Konstantinos was keen on this.

John pointed out that at the LCC AGM a lot of time was spent on the problems of safeguarding, and LCC decided that, as it did not want to force members to take Criminal Record Checks, it would not undertake rides or events with unaccompanied minors.

Konstantinos said that we could do this under an umbrella organisation, or with the council taking the lead.

Lynn wanted to produce a news sheet each month where we had an interview with a local non-lycra cyclist and was asking for suitable questions for an interview. Lynn would conduct the first interview..

Konstatinos wanted to organise a film night showing cycling films, perhaps using a room at the Town Hall which Lynn had discussed with Richard Duffill of LBHF

Lynn had written to Rosemary Pettit saying our group would be happy to meet her and the Air Quality Commission to discuss air pollution. It was agreed that John should write to Rosemary on behalf of the group about our NO2 results and other evidence for the Commission.

We discussed possible future meeting places. Paul had explored the Plough and Harrow, the Blue Anchor and had yet to examine the Hop Poles.

A meeting date of 2 February was agreed with venue to be confirmed.

Ken was reimbursed £30 for the refreshments he had laid on.

John Griffiths / 020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING HELD ON 8 DECTMBER AT THE HOME OF JOHN GRIFFITHS

It was good to see Will, who we had met at the North End Rd Market Festival. He is an engineer working in the Kings Cross area on projects that include cycle access and parking / storage. And it was good to see Jeremy again after his trip to the US. He is the founder of http://emojipedia.org/

VISION ZERO UK

www.visionzero.org.uk

Campaigning for a zero killed or seriously road injured policy

There is a launch conference for this on !9 January 2016. Jeremy is likely to go to this as our representative. Hopefully we can convince H&F to become a VZ borough.

HFCYCLISTS .ORG.UK WEBSITE

At the moment John and Lynn make occasional stabs at maintaining it. It is constructed in WordPress which means that you enter changes directly to the website, rather than using a program to design it and upload it.

It has six featured posts with thumbnails, and a mixture of posts and pages under a menu structure.

Will has looked at it and his initial comments are that it should make the meetings look more friendly, and emphasise that we are a conduit to the Council for people to raise concerns. We should ask ourselves why someone would want to become involved in our organisation.

Lynn sent John some ideas about interviewing people about their cycling experience so this could put this on the website. Unfortunately that document was blank, so Lynn will send out separately.

RIDE TO WHITE CROSS IN RICHMOND.

Sunday 13 December. This is a gentle ride suitable for the less experienced. It is a annual get together of West London LCC groups at this spectacular pub on the water front at Richmond. Most people have lunch there as well as a drink. All welcome. http://thewhitecrossrichmond.com/

Leaving from the observation platform at the end of Queen Caroline St where it meets the riverside path, almost under Hammersmith Bridge. Meeting from 10.30am for 10.40am sharp departure. Remember to bring lights and have your bike in good condition. To be led by Janusz Carmello [07809 611 077] and Paul Saunderson. Lynn will advertise the ride on Facebook and twitter and on the website.

PUBLICITY

We talked about promoting the group. Lynn was going to order some business cards with our info on it. It would be good to have some one third A4 leaflets similar to ones we used to have to distribute in bike shops, libraries, surgeries, friendly shops. Also a poster that could be put in some shop windows where their window space is not critical, like dry cleaners, minicab firms etc.

HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY

This is subject to the Cycling Superhighway 9 going through it as a segregated 2-way track in an East to West direction, and also subject of a Better Junction Review, which is meant to make the whole junction safer for cyclists from all directions.

John has been told in the past by the LBHF Cycling Officer Richard Duffill that the Better Junction Review part will only look at the area around Blacks Road, and is contracted out to Sustrans for the design work. John has been pressing for improvements for cyclists going to Hammersmith Bridge, and also on a north to south axis. Going in a southerly direction a route from Shepherds Bush Rd to Fulham Palace rd via the footway of Butterwick [the eastern side of the gyratory ] should be easy to include. Going in the opposite direction is not so simple as you have to cross Fulham Palace rd and then Shepherds Bush rd at the other end, or go around the other side of the gyratory, which is quite a detour.

UPDATE FROM RICHARD DUFFILL

Richard has written to Lynn today as follows

Hi Lynn,
>
> I hope you are well and that your first weekend on the market went well.
>
> I understand that you have a group meeting tonight so I thought that I’d drop you a quick update note.
>
> At the moment I’m spending most of my time making initial comments on the first draft of designs for the Hammersmith Gyratory Better Junction scheme, and the linked Cycle superhighway. With the Xmas break due fairly soon I think that I will arrange a meeting with you at the start of the new year where we can go through the proposals. At that meeting I’ll be able to also show you the modelling and journey time predictions for the junction.
>
> Tfl are also progressing the design for the A40 Westway which joins our borough at the Wood lane flyover and heads westwards to Old Oak road. Again I will be able to show you what they are proposing and explain the modelling.
>
> I attended a series of interesting meetings and presentations recently that all related to ‘On Street parking’ and the use of secure units throughout the street network. It would be interesting to hear from your group of any specific locations that are regularly requested. I’ve taken the locations requested from the main LCC cycle parking site already. Please contact Richard at Richard.Duffill@lbhf.gov.uk with your suggestions
>
> Please pass on my best wishes for a safe cycling Xmas to all your members, and I look forward to a busy and fruitful new year for cycling.
>
> Best Regards
> Richard.
>
> Richard Duffill, Cycling Officer , Transportation and Highways, LBHF

UPDATE FROM LYNN

Lynn Seveke [our Chair] thanks everyone who took part in the North End rd Market Stall.

John and Lynn attended PAC meeting. The results of the consultation are strong, but concerns arose whether this should be implemented on the main roads as traffic is often going below 20mph (ie. When it’s stuck). So, Lynn will discuss this with Iain Cassidy next week, and send an extra letter to the Council.

The council needs as much support as possible for them to be comfortable to implement 20mph everywhere. Would the other members also like to write a short email to the councillors? The key for them is to be able to justify this measure and the more local support the easier it is to justify!

Larry Culhane, chair responsible committee Larry.Culhane@lbhf.gov.uk

Stephen Cowan, head of cabinet stephen.cowan@lbhf.gov.uk

NEXT MEETING

Normally meetings have been held in member’s homes, and a few times in a pub. In January John and Ken who normally hold the meetings may not be available. We are looking at a meeting probably in the second week of January.

Other possibilities.

Richard Duffill has offered to Lynn the use of a room in the Town Hall

Paul has been looking into using a suitable room in a pub, and still has to explore the Hop Poles.

The group had no particular preference, but noted that a friendly atmosphere and some refreshments were important. To be decided later.

HORS DE COMBAT

John is having a heart operation next week at Hammersmith Hospital. It is for replacement of the aortic valve as it has become very narrow. Going in on the 15 December and hopefully out by the 22 December. But may be out of action for a while.

John would like to give a plug for the Amnesty Bookshop which has reopened in spacious premises next to the Town Hall. Great books there and your donations of quality books welcome. John working there this coming Friday afternoon and Monday Morning.

Meeting opened by Lynn Seveke as Chair. Welcomed those present and hoped to understand and encourage the input of members.

In the past month:

Lynn, Janusz and John independently attended the LCC’s A.G.M. Reported the introduction of the draft constitution. The control over branches needs examination and we must hold over any acceptance until this is clarified and approved. John has detected a tendency towards the imposition of policy and attitudes which may not be universally shared out among the branches. Example was the passing of a motion approving the presumption of blame, and therefore damages liability on the part of the motorist in any accident between a motorist and a cyclist.

Local news. The recent accident in Fulham Palace Road is still under investigation, so the cause is still uncertain.

Presentation and discussion of 15/16 strategies:

It was generally agreed that we should work to get more people involved in our activities and we could increase verbal interaction with people at street level, assisted by leaflets or cards.. Also we could concentrate on campaigning to influence the Borough Council to adopt cycle-friendly policy. Support for programme of social rides and meetings.

Venues for meetings were discussed, including pubs with quiet areas. (Ken will be away throughout December and John is to have a serious operation.) We should attend the Council’s annual breakfast meeting. Apparently this year it was held on the18th.June but hardly anyone knew of this.

We shall apply for a stall in the North End Road Christmas Market – Saturday, 28th. November. (Who is applying?). If we are allocated a stall, Lynn will publicise this and ask for volunteers.

Council lobbying:

There is to be Council-engendered consultation about the upgrading of the Hammersmith Gyratory , with acknowledgement of the numbers and needs of cyclists. Lynn will prepare for this. The 20 m.p.h. question is still to be decided. A Council poll returned roughly equal support for each of the three options. We should maintain contact with Richard Duffield and obtain any available information. He has undertaken to show us the proposal plan when ready. We also need news about the Hammersmith Bridge traffic markings .

We could use Twitter to comment or seek support.and publicise.

5.. December Ride:

This might be on Sunday 13th. December – with a number of local groups involved. – riding to a venue in Richmond. Lynn to inquire.But we should make a short-ride programme starting in Spring, unless there is a special reason for an earlier ride. Considering the needs of families with small children. Konstantinos is now away on holiday, but he intends to be fully involved in this project.

Thanks to all who have been involved via the email group, and to all who come to meetings.

John Griffiths [Chair hfcyclists] / 6 October 2015

TREASURERS’S REPORT

Financial Statement 2014- 2015

31 March 2014 Book Balance b/f £7148.97

31 March 2015 Book Balance c/f £6529.66

The nett expenditure of £619.31 comprised

Events 132.22

Internet service 88.12

Entertain / promotion 414,60

Offset by interest of 15.63

£3541.85 of the balance was considered as restricted funds, as it had originated from grants involved with the GREENFEST. Most of the rest of our moneys also originated from the GREENFEST, but came from things like food concessions.

Normally the LCC gives us a grant in the region of £300 each year, but in the year in question we forwent it.

DISCUSSION

Lynn pointed out that there was a difference between doing stuff and achieving something, and we should put emphasis on achieving results. Although a lot of what we do contributes towards an end, such as our efforts on 20mph and air pollution. Lynn also wanted to put more emphasis on using Twitter and Facebook.

It was noted that on the rides we organise we normally do not have many riders compared to some other groups such as Ealing.

He noted that most of our expenditure was on refreshments for meetings and thought more money should be spent on promoting ourselves, our activities.

BANK ACCOUNT

The present signatories are Ken McCosh, John Griffiths and Roger de Freitas. Lynn Seveke and Konstantinos Parsalidis will be added to this list. If the bank only allows 3 signatories, then John and Roger will be removed from the list.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Our constitution provides for a Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. These are required to set up or alter bank accounts. The Chair is the person who can represent the group. From the LCC’s perspective the person co-ordinating the group is the Co-ordinator.

The following positions were duly proposed and seconded and elected.

Chair Lynn Seveke

Treasurer Ken McCosh

Secretary Konstantinos Parsalidis,

The following were duly proposed and seconded and elected as Members of the Management Committee

It was noted that the Parsalidis family would be away in New Zealand for two months from late October.

+++++++++++

Hfcyclists OCTOBER MEETING

COMMUNITY ROADWATCH.

Nick Dove and Susannah Woodgate had expressed interest in this. This is where civilians record speeding offenders and give this information to the police, who take some action.

John has contacted the Hammersmith Safer Transport Team to see if it can be done in LBHF. Jules, who is a member of the team will also follow up. Jules had brought with him some crime prevention literature.

HOSTS

Paul said that he thought the minutes of the last meeting were incorrect as they reported, concerning the meeting before that:

>This took place in the home of Susie Gretz, and was in the garden and then shifted indoors as it became dark. Susie was concerned people may have not been happy with the meeting. All of those here today who were there expressed warm thanks to Susie for hosting the meeting and had no complaints and hope we will have future meetings at her place.<

Paul said tonight that he thought Susie’s place was unacceptable for meetings as the room was small and when people were in the garden you could not hear the door bell. The group tonight , other than Paul, saw no problem that could not be easily resolved.

John noted the reason Susie gave for her apologies tonight was that she felt intimidated by Paul because of unpleasant emails she had received from him after that meeting. It is a shame if we have lost a host and an active member of the group over this.

We were pleased to see Jeremy who joined our email list at the North End Rd stall. Jeremy is from Australia and knows a bit about computers. He has his own company at the Google Campus in Shoreditch.

Margaret joined in the FreeCycle ride to London and is involved in many community projects, including the North End Rd market project.

THE CYCLING SUPERHIGHWAY 9 IN RBKC

Last week, on Tuesday 1 September, John joined an inspection ride with K&C LCC chair Martin Carr, Councillor Robert Thompson of RBKC, Darren Johnson, Green Party Member of the London Assembly, and his PA Rachel Carlill. Apart from the fact the RBKC do not want a cycle route constructed through Kensington High street, there are also poor links for example from where the cycle route through Kensington Gardens ends at Kensington Gore. Darren is going to ask TfL some questions concerning CS9.

HAMMERSMITH GYRATORY and CS9 in LBHF

Last week I wrote to some LBHF Councillors expressing concern about what may be happening at Hammersmith Gyratory. On Friday I was informed by Nick Boyle of LBHF that Andrew Gilligan, the Cycling Commissioner, was going to ride along the path of the CS9 in LBHF, including the gyratory, on Monday 7 September, though I was not invited to join in. I was told that Richard Duffill, the new Cycling Oficer in the the borough would send me an update before our meeting.

This he has kindly done, and this update which refers to many projects is included at the end of these notes. In the update Richard introduces himself, and he is very experienced.

Concerning CS9 and the gyratory Richard writes

>>

Cycle Superhighway 9 (CS9) (Including Gyratory)

Today, Monday, I met with the London Cycling Commissioner along with colleagues from Tfl, Sustrans and H&F Council to ride the proposed East West route through our borough. The good news is that there is strong support from all the aforementioned to deliver this East-West route in 2016-17.

To clarify what this involves I should start by advising that the key element of the route involves a proposed solution to cycling across the north side of the Hammersmith Gyratory. Our desire is to have a segregated bi-directional route that is as direct as possible from Chiswick to Kensington.

As you know, the Tfl plan is to go to public consultation with the design in January.

We have not ignored the links with other connecting routes and we are working on a design that will accommodate not only the existing volumes of cyclists we recorded earlier in the year, (similar to those that you recorded), but also the key links to Hammersmith Bridge and Fulham Palace road, and a provision for more cyclists in the future.

It is my intention to share more details of this proposal with you when I have something more ‘concrete’ to show you.

<<

I have asked Richard for more details of the cycle count, because if it is the same as the one I was shown previously at a central LCC meeting, that one was appalling. Several major cycling facilities have been built in recent years and are now not able to cater for the numbers of cyclists using them. So lets make sure they are at least starting from a correct knowledge of today’s cycling use.

Lynn and I hope to meet with Richard soon.

PAC MEETING

There is Policy and Accountability Committee meeting at Hammersmith Town Hall on the evening of 21 September. This may include news of the Air Quality Commission that Rosemary Pettit is going to set up.

NO2 DIFFUSION TUBE PROJECT

We may still continue in some form, but will leave it for the moment.

I was contacted by a company called Cleanspace about trying out an app for measuring pollution. I passed this on to Lynn, who may be happier with apps than me. You can read about it in Guardian or take a look at their websitehttps://our.clean.space/ to find out more about it. You could try registering as a beta tester, Note this is a commercial thing, and there are

A detector measures carbon monoxide levels as a surrogate for vehicle pollutants, such as fine particulates known as PM2.5s and a toxic gas, nitrogen dioxide, generated by diesel vehicles. It communicates via blue tooth to your phone. [A possible problem is that a more polluting diesel engine gives out less CO than a petrol engine]

Perhaps we can use their technology or app to check things in our borough.

This took place in the home of Susie Gretz, and was in the garden and then shifted indoors as it became dark. Susie was concerned people may have not been happy with the meeting. All of those here today who were there expressed warm thanks to Susie for hosting the meeting and had no complaints and hope we will have future meetings at her place.

EXPENSES

John had expenses of £37.85 for refreshments at tonights meeting

LCC AGM AND CAMPAIGNERS CONFERENCE

Saturday 17 October.

http://lcc.org.uk/pages/agm-and-campaigners-conference

We urge members of hfcyclists to become members of the LCC. There are many benefits to being a member.

It’s been a hectic few months since I took over the reins of the Cycling officer at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, and the time has flown by.

I’ve spent all my life in the Cycle Industry both on the manufacturing and import side, but more recently in Local Government, building cycling infrastructure and using my sales and marketing skills to get more people cycling.

I can see a huge opportunity in the borough to get more people cycling, not only for their commute, but also for their leisure time. To achieve this we need to raise the profile of cycling locally, and initially make improvements to what we have already, followed on with a long term plan. The Cycling Strategy is a great place to start and in its revised form, it contains all the elements that we need to move forward.

This update is unfortunately in place of me attending your meeting tonight, so apologies for this. As I said at the start, the time has flown by, mainly because there are many cycling projects underway that show the level of commitment the council are now showing towards cycling. I don’t intend to go into great detail in this update, but intend to give you a broad feel of the main initiatives that I’m progressing with the team here.

In no particular order :

Cycle Superhighway 9 (CS9) (Including Gyratory)

Today, Monday, I met with the London Cycling Commissioner along with colleagues from Tfl, Sustrans and H&F Council to ride the proposed East West route through our borough. The good news is that there is strong support from all the aforementioned to deliver this East-West route in 2016-17.

To clarify what this involves I should start by advising that the key element of the route involves a proposed solution to cycling across the north side of the Hammersmith Gyratory. Our desire is to have a segregated bi-directional route that is as direct as possible from Chiswick to Kensington.

As you know, the Tfl plan is to go to public consultation with the design in January.

We have not ignored the links with other connecting routes and we are working on a design that will accommodate not only the existing volumes of cyclists we recorded earlier in the year, (similar to those that you recorded), but also the key links to Hammersmith Bridge and Fulham Palace road, and a provision for more cyclists in the future.

It is my intention to share more details of this proposal with you when I have something more ‘concrete’ to show you.

A40 Westway Cycle Superhighway.

We have begun working with Tfl on the Westway Cycle Superhighway. The initial work involves exploring possible routes from and including the Wood lane junction along the Westway to Old Oak Road. The intention is again to get a scheme that will be delivered in 2016-17.

East Acton – St Marks Road Quietway.

The outline work has so far investigated creating an upgraded Quietway along the edge of Wormwood scrubs and linking into Kensington in the east and Acton (westway) in the west.

Grand Union Canal path upgrade.

We are working with Tfl and the Canals Trust to develop a scheme that will upgrade the section of canal path in our borough and which will enable the full length of the canal to be more easily accessible to cyclists.

Cycling Strategy.

We have incorporated all the comments received form the consultation in a revised document that will be presented to Cabinet in October. I am developing the Action Plan from the Strategy.

Capital Programme for 2015-2016

There are a number of ‘cycling’ schemes that are currently being programmed for delivery in the 2015-16 programme including The Talgarth Road SUD scheme, as well as projects on the Thames path, a number of main junctions and minor changes to cycle infrastructure. I will update these in more detail when we meet.

On street cycle Parking –Residents cycle parking

I am currently developing a number of on street and residents car parking schemes throughout the borough. These are intended to increase the capacity and ensure that we have cycle parking in the right places where demand is the highest.

I hope this gives you a flavour of the work that I’m now involved in and I look forward to sharing and discussing cycling matters with you on a regular basis.

A great thanks to Roger and Vicki for the really splendid evening they provided. A great joy and culinary feast for all who came along.

RIDE LONDON FEEDER SATURDAY 1 AUGUST

We hope many of you will come along. Konstantinos is leading it. Meeting from 10am for 10.30pm departure. Meeting at corner of Dunsany rd and Brook Green. We have 7 marshals. If anyone else who is competent would like be a marshal, please contact Konstantinos.

The feeder ride will take you to Constiitution Hill, after which you will be on the FREECYCLE car-free roads leading to Tower of London. We provide a return ride at 3pm. It would be good to have some people at the start talking to newcomers about our group and collecting email addresses.

NO2 DIFFUSION TUBE PROJECT

We now have the final results. The headline results for Hammersmith Gyratory and SBG are that at most locations the NO2 values are between 2 to 3 times the EU limit, and most results are higher than at the LBHF reference point near St Pauls Church.

At a height of 0.5m [pushchair ht] values are 30% than at 3m, and at 0.8m [buggy height] values are 25% greater than at 3m.

John, Lynn, Andrea and perhaps Konstantinos are meeting with some Councillors next Monday evening to discuss the significance of our results. We are also looking at publicising our results in the media.

We may consider continuing the programme ourselves, particularly refining the pushchair measurements. We hope our work, combined with recent and expected results on the harmful and deadly effects of NO2, will lead to consideration of giving more safe road space to cyclists in the redesign of Hammersmith Gyratory.

20MPH

There is still time to fill in the questionnaire, 2 more days. Susie had an A5 leaflet through her door from the Association of British Drivers suggesting people vote NO. So if you have not already done so please do so, and say YES.

There will be a further car free North End Road festival on Saturday 12 December, Several people here today said they would like to participate in another hfcyclists stall then. We will see nearer he time.

Konstantinos suggested a themed ride like those given by bikeminded of RBKC. http://www.bikeminded.org/whats-on/ His idea is to have a ride visiting blue plaques, architecture or the like in the borough. Probably around the end of September. Susie will send Konstantinos suggestions she once prepared with David. Other suggestions to Konstantinos.

Konstantinos showed us some things about twitter. He uses the platform tweetdeck to manage his tweets. At the moment Alex, Lynn and John have access to send tweets on the @hfcyclists account. John will give Konstantinos the password. Anyone can follow @hfcyclists, or refer to us or search for us using #hfcyclists.

WEBSITE

With a lot going on it would be good to have more help with the maintenance.

PLANNING FOR OUR AGM

Discussing who may be interested in which roles after the AGM. Our AGM will probably be in October. Anyone interested in having a special role as an Officer or as a Member of the Management Committee should talk to John at some stage.

BIKE SHOW

Paul reminded us of the Cycle Show 24 to 27 September at the Birmingham NEC. http://www.cycleshow.co.uk/

EXPENSES

John had expenses of £23.76 for printing and laminating at the North End Rd Festival. Susie had expenses of £42.99 for refreshments.

We were pleased to meet Tim Day, a retired journalist who has had experience teaching cycling. He has offered to be a marshal for our RideLondon feeder ride on Saturday 1 August.

Paul had invited Jules along, who is part of the Shepherds Bush Transport Hub, which deals with surface transport matters, largely buses, but not the tube. He told us of his work and how it dealt with cycling. Lynn took some notes and may send an email with more details.

20MPH

Our input was very successful at the recent LBHF PAC meeting. Now we need to get people to fill in the online consultation. At the North End Road market stall we will show collision map indicating that most cyclist injuries and fatalities are on main roads. We would like the limit to extend to shopping streets if not all main roads. Some people in our group against blanket 20mph limit.

At the PAC Ruth Mayorcas spoke to Cllr Wesley Harcourt about problems she finds on the Goldhawk Rd. As a consequence John and Ruth will meet some Councillors on Monday 22 June for a site visit. Nobody at tonight’s meeting uses the Goldhawk road much. Tim had problems at the intersection with Paddenswick rd where there are the double roundabouts, but that is outside the area where there road is being redesigned. Others have been in touch with us and LBHF about problems on Goldhawk road.

NORTH END ROAD STALL

We have just heard that we have a stall for the festival on Saturday 27 June. Our main objective is to find new active members for the group. We will concentrate on 20mph limit, NO2 pollution, the Summer Feeder ride as subjects to engage with people. We will with A3 colour graphics. Susie will look at prices for printing and laminating and John will see if it is cheaper to have a banner printed which we can cut up. Konstantinos, Elizabeth, Ken, Suzie, Jose, John will be available on the day, and perhaps Janusz. Elizabeth and John will work on credit card sized cards that give info about the group and also how to report potholes.

If others wish to be part of the event please contact John.

NO2 DIFFUSION TUBE PROJECT

We now have the final results. The plan is to meet with senior people at the council in a few weeks time to discuss the results and see how we can influence plans for Hammersmith Gyratory. Also we will try to get media coverage of the results.

The EU limit for NO2 is 40 µg / m^3 [micrograms per cubic metre] . The LBHF measurement for Hammersmith Broadway near St Pauls Church was about 80 µg / m^3 . Our results for Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush Green were roughly in the range 80 – 100 µg / m^3. at push chair height we found the levels to be about 30% higher than at the 3m height that LBHF uses for measurements.

Andrea would like to see us have a public meeting on air pollution, preferably before the end of July when her present funding runs out.. We discussed this. However the much publicised LBHF meeting on 20mph only brought in a very few people apart from ourselves. Other meeting such as on the flyunder, the Thames sewer and Heathrow expansion have been highly attended.

Paul suggested bringing your own drink and picnic for the public terrace with the spectacular view as queues may be long at the pub across the street.

OUR GARDEN PARTY AT ROGER DE FREITAS’

This will be on Thursday 16 July at 7pm. Roger and Vicky live in Hartswood Rd. This is our great event of the year and please put in your diary now. We will send an email out with details nearer the time.

RIDE LONDON FEEDER SATURDAY 1 AUGUST

Tim Day says he would like to be a marshal. John will forward his details to Konstantinos.

EALING NEWSLETTER

Paul brought in a Ealing Cycling campaign newsletter that was attached to his bike. It is very impressive. Perhaps we could do something similar, and Lynn thinking about it. If others want to be involved please get in touch.

We were pleased to see Kpnstantinos, who was a marshal at last years Ride London, and Elizabeth, who came to a meeting last year and was on the Hammersmith Bridge ride.

NO2 DIFFUSION TUBE PROJECT

We now have the results for our February and April NO2 measurements. A correction factor still has to be applied to them by Client Earth, our partners in this.

The results indicate that there are a few places in Hammersmith and SBG where the results are considerably higher than at the place where LBHF takes its measurement for Hammersmith Gyratory.

We took readings at heights of 3m and 2.25m. We were expecting the reading closer to the ground to be higher as it was closer to the source of local exhaust gases. There was no significant difference at these heights. Near the entrance to King Street the 3m reading was surprisingly higher than the 2.25m reading. We speculated this might be gases from the flyover dispersing down, or turbulence , or random errors.

Where we measured at 4 different heights on two posts, from 3m down to 0.5m, this showed a significant increase as you got down to pushchair height.

John will do some further work on the statistics behind the results. This is to see how meaningful the figures are, as there are inherent random errors in the NO2 tube approach, and variations due to the weather. John will collaborate on this with Konstantinos and Lynn. And also show to someone in the group who works in statistics.

Konstantinos, an engineer, had several suggestions. He will discuss with some colleagues. We will collaborate with Andrea Lee of client Earth in producing a report. We should approach LBHF and TfL with a view to trying to influence them into taking mitigation measures, especially as the plans for Hammersmith Gyratory are being developed now.

Konstantinos said that normally bodies would expect to see at least 3 months of data before something was taken seriously. In the light of our experience so far we may carry out further studies, using our money, or from any grant we may be able to get.

Recently Client Earth were successful in taking the UK government to the UK Supreme Court, with the result that the UK has to take more stringent action to meet an EU directive on NO2 pollution levels. NO2 mainly comes from diesel vehicles and causes health problems sometimes leading to earlier death.

HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE

On 25 April about ten of us along with Chris Bainbridge, Cllrs Ben Coleman, Lisa Homan, Max Schmid and PJ Murphy rode over Hammersmith Bridge. Cllr Wesley Harcourt was also there. We were pressing for large signs on the roadway saying “CYCLIST PRIORITY”.

In January 2016 Hammersmith Bridge will be closed for a year for repairs and strengthening work.

RIDE LONDON

LCC is asking if we can organise a feeder ride for Ride London on 1 August. We need a lead rider and marshals. We discussed last years ride. John will send to LCC the following:

John will apply for a stall for the group. It will be a long day –perhaps from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Konstantinos, Elizabeth, Ken, Suzie, Petrina and John say they will be involved. Interacting with non-cyclists encouraging them to cycle, and with cyclists telling them of our causes. And giving info. Possibly measuring BMI for example.

Please contact John as soon as possible if others want to be involved in planning and being there on the day.

SPACE4CYCLING

LCC are seeking people to hand in petitions to our Council at a photoshoot. The petitions are reminders to keep pursuenig the Spce4Cycling pledges they made. Lars, Elizabeth, Ken and John said they would, depending on the date.

HOUNSLOW SUGGESTION for A4 and A316

Hounslow Cycling Campaign are planning to run a positive campaign giving a vision of what TfL’s roads could be like, particularly asking for protected cycle lanes on the A4 and A316. That is the Great West Road and the road that leads to Chiswick Bridge.

The website has great diagrams of how it might be. I was sent this by Timothy Harris. You can leave comments on the website and also send messages to the London Assembly members.

OUR PROJECT

Nitrogen dioxide is a noxious gas given out by petrol and diesel engines, but particularly by diesel engines. It aggravates asthma and leads to many early deaths.

Andrea Lee on left with Paul Saunderson and Susie Gretz

On 4 February four members of hfcyclists, joined by Andrea Lee from Client Earth set off to place 33 small NO2 detection tubes around Hammersmith Gyratory and Shepherds Bush Green. They were collected and replaced on 4 March, and the fresh tubes will be collected a month later. We hope to get the results sometime in April.

John Griffiths, Chair of hfcyclists, placing an NO2 tube

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham measures NO2 / pollution in a few locations around the Borough, but at a height of 3m. Our tests are to show if NO2 pollution levels are higher in places where the NO2 may be concentrated because of the local geometry and prevailing winds. We also want to see if the levels are higher at breathing height and push-chair height.

We hope to use the results to inform and influence those making traffic decisions at Hammersmith Gyratory and Shepherds Bush Green. If the results turn out to be of general interest we will consider how to broadcast them more widely.

A LITTLE MORE DETAIL

Several tubes will be used at each site, so there are not 30 separate sites. We are looking at places where there are a lot of people crowded together with a lot of traffic. The local geometry and prevailing winds can concentrate the pollution in certain areas.

Because of the potential for interference when tubes are placed at a lower height LBHF only place tubes at a height of 3m. Pollution levels lower down and closer to the source are expected to be higher, but we do not know by how much. We will be measuring at two heights, 3.0m and 2.25m at the same location. We hope that by extrapolating, this will give us an indication of the NO2 levels at 1.5m, approximately breathing height.

An NO2 monitoring tube in situ

At a couple of places where we do not expect any interference to the tubes we will be measuring at heights of 3.0m, 2,25m, 1.5m and 0.5m. This may give us an indication as to whether children in pushchairs are exposed to greater levels of pollution, and by how much.

It should be pointed out that NO2 diffusion tubes are not considered a very exact method, and measuring for only two months out of a year will not lead to very robust results, and they may be described as “indicative”.

We will use statistics on our results to see how much reliance can be placed upon them. However we do hope to extract useful information from these tests that may be used to inform people making traffic [and health] decisions.

POLLUTION LEVELS

The level found for 2013 at the Hammersmith Broadway NO2 diffusion tube site was 89.5 microgram / cubic metre. The EU guideline for the maximum value is 40μg/m3 . Levels above 60μg/m3 could lead to a potential exceedence of the NO2 hourly mean Air Quality Strategy objective.

This is an important consideration that traffic planners must take into account when deciding whether to give space to pedestrians and cyclists or to motor traffic.

OUR RESULTS

We did not find any consistent difference between the values at 3.0m and at 2.25m. We were surprised that at some places the values were higher at 3.0m than at 2.25m. In the circumstances we combined the values at the two levels to give an average for that location.

This also meant that we could not extrapolate to estimate the NO2 concentrations at normal breathing height. However we were able to find how the NO2 values varied around our locations and how they compared to the NO2 value at the LBHF reference point.

At the two locations where we measured at 4 different heights we found a gradual increase in NO2 as we descended to pushchair height.

It is possible that the proximity of the Hammersmith flyover may have affected the height distribution of NO2.

We applied corrections

a] for the difference between our reference tubes and the readings from the Automatic Monitoring Station at Shepherds Bush Green.

b] to estimate an Annual Mean by taking into account how our months compared to the general trend over the last year.

On the following pages are charts showing the adjusted values. The EU limit is 40μg / m^3 [40 microgram per cubic metre].

NO2 values compared to the EU limit of 40μg / m^3

Graphic showing the relative NO2 pollution at different heights

Graphic showing relative NO2 values at different heights

Conclusions

1] The NO2 values were all well over the EU limit of 40μg / m^3 [40 microgram per cubic metre]. Most were more than 2x the EU limit.

2] In Hammersmith all the values apart from the one in Beadon Rd were greater than at the LBHF reference location by St Paul’s Church. This may be due to the Canyon Effect where in enclosed places the pollution is concentrated.

3] At Shepherds Bush Green there is an Automatic Monitoring Station. Around the area all the values are higher than at the monitoring station. The closest LBHF tube is on the Uxbridge road and does not have a very high reading.

4] At present LBHF uses indications of the NO2 pollution levels that are below those that actually exist in some of the busiest spots. To bring these values down to the EU limit some extraordinary measures must be taken. One such would be to encourage a massive modal shift towards cycling for shorter journeys. This would involve using the road space to encourage cycling.

5] Whilst we only measured NO2 values in two locations at pushchair height, we found the values at 0.5m to be about 30% greater than at 3.0m where LBHF makes its measurements. At a buggy height of 0.8m the NO2 value is about 25% greater than at 3m. Young children with developing lungs are especially vulnerable to the effects of NO2 pollution.

Contacts

John Griffiths Chair hfcyclists

122c Edith road, West Kensington, W14 9AP

020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748

john@truefeelings.com

www.hfcyclists.org.uk

Andrea Lee ClientEarth

Hammersmith and Fulham Council have a new Draft Cycling Strategy which is now in the final days of consultation, with comments due by this Friday, 16th January – Now Extended to 2nd February 2015.
You can review the strategy in full here and complete the council questionnaire. The strategy has taken on board briefings made by hfcyclists but does not yet contain firm commitments on how to deal with every barrier to cycling in the borough as identified in Space For Cycling. There is support for tackling major junctions, providing space for cycling, filtered permeability and 20mph so the tools are in discussion.

A proposed cycling network is also shared at the current high-level stage where not all alignments have been finalised. A positive sign is that there are two east-west superhighways proposed but unfortunately only the northern one is likely to continue all the way into town. The indicative quietways are likely to be many years away, and the junction improvement at Hammersmith Broadway by June 2017. Out most likely early change is to be 20mph and changes around Hammersmith Bridge.

It is expected that the roadway of Hammersmith Bridge will be completely closed for a year commencing January 2016. The footways will still be open.

On 25 April we had a ride over the bridge with LBHF Councillors. The object was to convince them that measures were needed to make cycling safer and more appealing on the bridge.

Instead of the present paltry markings, meant to convey that cyclists should “hold the lane” at the pinch points

we want something more substantial that shows cyclists have priority on the bridge.

It would be good to have signs saying “DO NOT OVERTAKE CYCLISTS” but officialdom [Road Sign regulations] and anti-clutter sentiment weigh heavily against this.

John Griffiths has written to the Council hoping that they will include this in the Cycling Strategy at this late stage.

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LBHF plan to consult on the Bridge and the approaches soon. This is expected February 2015. They intend to give the bridge a 20 mph speed limit. This will necessitate signs on the bridge saying 20 mph.

In conversations with officers the have said they do not intend to have any notices or road markings indicating “Cyclist Priority” or “Narrow Lanes – Do not overtake cyclists”

When the consultation appears I hope people will respond saying that these are essential . John Griffiths 25 Jan 2015

Last year we had a survey on Hammersmith Bridge which is now closed. The survey started on 12 May 2014 and has attracted 141 respondents. The survey was issued via cyclist email lists, leaflets handed out near Hammersmith Bridge and via the Hammersmith Today website and newsletter.

The survey asked about the new markings and logos placed on the bridge. The markings were intended to encourage cyclists to ride in a primary position and to “hold the lane” so that they could not be overtaken at pinch pints. The responsibility was placed on the cyclists to be brave, and not on the motorist to give way.

The headline results were

a] 32% believed that the message from the logos was that cyclists were meant to ride on the left so that they could be overtaken at the pinch points.

b] To the question “Do the markings make you feel safer?” the most popular response was that it makes no difference,followed by it makes it riskier for cyclists.

c] 95% wanted a 20mph limit installed as soon as possible.

Of the 141 respondents 62 live in H&F and 25 live in Richmond. Of the 141 respondents 44 work or study in H&F, 11 in Richmond. Most were confident or very confident cyclists.

Conclusion from this survey is that the present system is not satisfactory.

We see the survey as a quest to look into the possible ways the bridge can be handled in the long term, especially as it is due for more serious renewal in 2015. However, in the immediate short term we continue to campaign for our demand in Space For Cycling to see the bridge and surrounding roads up to Hammersmith Broadway and beyond made 20mph.

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About us

We are the local branch of the London Cycle Campaign (LCC) for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. We also cover Shepherd's Bush but that's not part of the name of our borough, a fuller guide to where we cover is here.